Revenge
by Crazy-Psycho-Anime-Lover
Summary: Sakura sometimes questioned her sanity. So when she gets kidnapped by two supposedly dead criminals, falls in love with the Kazekage, and gains another voice, she began to realise that she was definately insane...
1. Chapter 1

**I in no way own Naruto or any of the characters. Masashi Kishimoto does. I hope you like. This is my first Fanfic so please review and tell me if I was crap, if I was good, and what you reckon I need improvement on.**

"Goodbye! See you tomorrow Kimiko-chan!"

Sakura sighed. Finally, after a long and chakra draining day at the hospital, she couldn't wait to get home to her apartment, take a long hot shower and pass out in bed. Taking the usual route home, nearly growling at the cold winter air, her ten minute walk home didn't seem so short anymore. Apart from that, everything seemed fine.

'**Well why the hell wouldn't it be!' **her inner shouted, seemingly pissed off and sulky. **'It's Konoha; it's always fine, nothing interesting EVER happens!'**

Sakura winced, before muttering a few curses and tuning her annoying inner-self out. She started day dreaming about her bed and shower, before coming back to reality, tense. She was only vaguely aware of her inner screaming inwardly.

'**THERE'S SOMEONE HERE SAKURA! HURRY UP AND GET YOUR ASS OUTTA HERE!'**

Sakura froze, her hairs standing on end. Someone was watching, no, glaring at her, with the intent to kill. The air seemed cold and still, as if time had frozen. She shook her head and forced herself to carry on walking, listening to the echo of her footsteps. They weren't echoes. Someone was following her. She quickened her pace, and sure enough, as did the other.

"Oh please just let this be Sai and Naruto playing another prank" she inwardly prayed, even though she knew it was foolish, this seemed much to sinister to be one of Naruto's annoying but usually harmless pranks

She took a detour into a small shop to try and evade her stalker, buying some chocolate to calm her nerves and allowed it to melt on her tongue, the smooth and sweetness soothing her erratic heartbeat. After several minutes, she left the shop again, certain the stalker had gone and continued on her way. All was calm before the second pair of footsteps picked up again. She broke into a run, her heart humping hard against her ribs. She turned corner after corner, the cold wind whipping her hair about her face and cheeks, trying to lose her follower, a few times, I had seemed she had succeeded, before she heard an amused chuckle and took off running again. She turned her last corner before…

"SHIT! Dead end. What the hell am I supposed to do now!" she turned around trying to look for an escape route, but found none. Maniacal laughter reached her ears, and she tensed, staring to panic. She turned round, nearly crying out in joy at a medium length, rusting pole lying a few feet away from her. She scrambled over and grabbed it firmly in her hands raising it up, preparing to hit the madman following her. The footsteps were drawing closer

"Come out, come out wherever you are, you can' hide forever!"

…

HOLY SHIT! Sakura stopped breathing. This guy was mental! She had just about steadied herself when she saw a hand grip the wall. She held the pole tighter, screwing her eyes shut, and summoning as much chakra as she could, she swung her arms around with as much force as she could, intending to at least break a few ribs and cause internal bleeding.

"TAKE THAT, YOU SICK BASTARD!"

She felt the pole come into contact with something. Squinting, she looked and saw a hand holding the pole, a few inches away from a chest. _**His chest**_. Gulping and trembling, she looked up to see a man with dark red hair and who seemed very familiar. She gasped and her heart stopped.

"Sasori!"

He grinned, his brown-grey eyes, alight and dancing with amusement and evil. It was with this small detail she faintly noticed he was alive and human. How was this possible! Sakura had watched him die (if you can call it dying) and had played an active part in his death. Oh well, it didn't matter. She had to get out of there and alert the Hokage of his existence. She focused on him to realise he was talking to her.

"Now that wasn't very nice" His voice was as smooth as silk, but was ruined by the condescending tone he spoke in, waving one finger as if lightly scolding a small child. This served to piss her off.

"Drop dead!" she snarled quickly moving away from him in an attempt to get around him. Too slow.

In an instant, he had swung the pole into the side of her head. A bright light exploded behind her eyes as she shut them. She staggered and fell, hitting the hard, cold concrete floor. She weakly raised a hand to her head, drawing back when she felt something warm sticky and wet. She opened her eye to look at her hand and saw blood. She then felt a sharp jab in her right arm. Hissing in pain, she slowly turned her head to see what the hell he was doing. Whatever colour left in her face drained away in an instant. There, producing from her arm was a thick syringe, a dark purple liquid draining itself into her system.

_**Poison**_.

She tried to get up, but the effect of the poison was instantaneous. Her mind slowed down and she started to fall, but Sasori caught her.

"Now, now, can't have my doll, becoming more damaged than she already is." He whispered in a sickly sweet voice, his breath softly tickling her ear. She would have shivered, if it weren't for the fact everything below her neck had become completely stiff and numb.

"Piss of you sick Bastard," her words were starting to slur. _'Damn, that shit works fast!'_

"Ah, ah, aah. Now now Sakura, we can' have that sort of vulgar language coming from someone as… beautiful as yourself" a feral smile was staring to spread across his face. He placed her softly on the ground before summoning a clay figure.

"I have the girl, now hurry up and get us before someone notices that she is missing. Just trace my Chakra signature and make sure you aren't followed" He spoke to the piece of clay in and monotone, as if giving someone an order. He turned back to her, smiling smugly. Sakura's face had stared becoming numb, and she felt her eye-lids starting o droop and her head lolled to the side.

"Why are you doing this?" terrified if the answer, she whispered. Her words were slurring so much, her speech was almost incoherent, but he seemed to understand. He looked her in the eyes, kneeling down and running an elegant finger down the side of her face to her chin before hooking his finger under her chin so that she could look back at him. He smiled at her, a reassuring smile that suited his angelic face, almost fooling Sakura until she looked at his eyes, twinkling with glee and laughter at her.

"Because, my little Sakura blossom, I made you and my dear grandmother a promise. I had intended to keep that promise. Unfortunately for my Grandmother, she died before I could keep that promise, though it was about time to. I was going to fulfil my promise to you, but now im not so sure…" He drifted off, eyes trailing down from her face to her body, then back up to her eyes.

"Unfortunately, with a puppet, you can't imitate the life in its eyes, just its features, and I would miss the fire in your eyes when you fight, so I think I'm going to keep you alive, your emotions are to… precious to give up, they make you, well you. I can appreciate that more now that I am alive. How I'm alive your eyes seem to ask? Well that will have o wait for another time!" He grinned evilly and dropped her chin. The last thing Sakura heard were his laughter and the wind picking up as something large over her cast its shadow and swoop down upon them as she finally allowed the oncoming darkness to take her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello again, due to mocks, I have unfortunately been unable to update, but now that Christmas is here, I'll be able to update more frequently. Enjoy **

'… _Ugh, I really need to invest in a better bed!'_

Sakura rolled over, half asleep, mentally moaning about the rough texture of the sheets and the hard feeling of the mattress; she noticed she had a headache. Rolling over once again, she directed some healing chakra towards the source and tried to get back to sleep. After a few minutes of throbbing in her head, she became more aware of her surroundings. She squinted and saw a black wall.

'_My walls aren't black, they're blue!'_

'**No shit Sherlock!'**

The sarcastic voice of her inner startled her, causing her to sit up abruptly, before cursing as the pain in her head intensified. She raised a hand to her head.

'_Why the hell won't it stop-'_

"I was wondering when you were going to wake up."

A low, velvety voice interrupted her thoughts. Sakura spun round, nearly toppling out of the bed in the process, to see Sasori lounging in a chair, a few metres from the bed, with an amused smirk on his face. Broken flashes of memories broke through her consciousness; walking home from the hospital, realising she was being stalked, coming face to face with a man she thought was long since dead, being injected with poison and passing out.

'_Oh… SHIT! How long have I been out!'_

She realised she must have voiced this out loud as she received an answer.

"Oh, you've only been unconscious for around… 3 days?"

His smirk grew as he watched her visibly tense, her face openly betraying her feelings: shock, horror, a hint of fear, before finally settling on anger as she remembered exactly why she was stuck in a room with him.

"You… Bastard! You poisoned and kidnapped me! I' swear to God I'll kill you!

She rose from the bed, moving towards him with her fists clenched. She took a couple of steps towards him before her legs gave out under her and she fell towards the ground. With reflexes only a ninja could possess, he left the chair and grabbed her before she hit the floor.

"Careful, we wouldn't want you getting hurt now, would me, my dear?"

"Piss off, you freak and let me go!"

"But if I let you go, you would fall."

Her face flushed as she realised just how close she was to him. Feeling uncomfortable, she squirmed against him in an attempt to get out of his hold, to which he only gripped her tighter. She felt confused, as usually she would have been able to have thrown him, or anyone else, through the wall by now.

"Why am I so weak!" She was frustrated at the lack of power

His smirk returned full force.

"Well you see my dear Sakura, I had done some… research on you before coming o collect you. I learned that you had picked up a few tricks from the Hokage. Now, do you honestly think that I would come unprepared? The only reason you can barely walk, let alone throw me through a wall is because I have placed a chakra seal on you."

He said it so matter of fact, she blinked a few times before fully processing what he had said, and she had to admit, it was clever. But it didn't stop her from being pissed.

"You… _what!" _She hissed menacingly her eyes narrowing dangerously. Sasori merely raised an eyebrow at her response.

"Don't worry my sweet, you will be able to walk again properly in a few hours, the after effects of the chakra seal and I must admit, I may have used a stronger dose of poison then necessary."

"No, too much poison? You don't say" She ground out, glaring at him. It was at that moment that her inner decided to helpfully add:

"**You know, I never noticed what a deep shade of brown his eyes can be, and in this shade of the light, they appear dark red… How sexy!"**

Sakura then realised that she was still encased in Sasori's arms. She blushed lightly and tried to wriggle out. To this, Sasori sighed dramatically and brought one of his arms under her legs and promptly lifted her into his arms, bridal style. Sakura squeaked in surprise and on instinct, wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed herself closer to his chest, in fear of falling, trying to ignore her inners comments on how muscular his chest was.

"W-What the h-hell are you doing!" she stuttered.

"As I explained before, the chakra seal and the poison has worn you out, you still need to rest. We need you in top condition before we move out again"

He laid her gently onto the bed and pulled the covers up to her chest. Despite what he had just said, his actions and light scolding appeared somewhat motherly. The corners of Sakura's lips quirked slightly before returning to a frown. Sasori however, had noticed the slight change in emotion and it had spiked his curiosity.

"What are you smiling at?" His question received no answer as she stared blankly ahead. Frustrated by her sudden lack of interaction, he pinched her. She yelped, more in surprise than in pain and turned to glare at him.

"What the hell was that for!"

"I'll repeat my question: what were you smiling at?" he inquired

"None of your damn business" she shot back, deftly crossing her arms over her chest.

Sasori sighed again, feeling irritation stir within him. He glared at her coldly causing her o shiver in fear, remembering that he was an S-Class criminal and wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

"My patience is wearing thin Sakura, and I have been kind so far. Now will you please be courteous in return or I may have to punish you, and I have no wish to harm you, however you forget who I am and you should know that it is dangerous to anger someone of my rank, do you understand?"

She shuddered and uttered a 'yes' and 'sorry' before turning away from him. His glare vanished and was replaced with a smile, at which point he turned around at sat back in the chair. Sakura then proceeded to take in her surroundings. It was a small room with one bed, one window and a chest of drawers. There were two doors, one probably leading onto a bathroom and the other, to a hallway. She sniffed, a look of disdain appearing on her face at the state of the room. It looked like it hadn't been cleaned in ages. She wanted to know where she was but it seemed from the look on Sasori's face that he was still pissed off with her.

"Where are we?" She blurted out before she could sop herself. He regarded her for a minute before replying.

"We are at a small inn, extremely far away from Konoha, so do not even think about trying to escape, understand?" Yep. He was still annoyed at her so she simply nodded and kept silent

They remained in silence for a while longer, before a knock brought them back to reality, causing Sakura to jump, and Sasori to once again sigh in annoyance. The door opened, and for a brief moment, Sakura thought that Ino was standing in the doorway. Upon further inspection she realised that it was in fact another S-Class criminal: Deidara

"_Aah shit. I'm stuck with two dangerous-"_

"**Sexy as hell criminals!"** Sakura's inner interrupted her, squealing in delight at the situation. Sakura grunted quietly in annoyance, drawing Deidara's attention to her. His eyes raked over her body and she could feel a blush growing. His eyes met hers and they held I before Sasori cleared his throat to gain their attention.

"Well Deidara, if you are quite finished…"

"Sorry Danna" He replied, looking sheepish. "Anyways, we better get moving, and fast. I think someone recognised us and now there are shinobi scouting the area looking for anyone who matches our description"

Sasori looked pissed. He nodded and spoke sharply to Deidara to create a distraction and to meet them on the roof in two minutes, to which Deidara replied eagerly and rushed off.

'_Probably to go blow something up"_

"Now my dear, due to these unfortunate circumstances, we will have to leave. I have brought you some clothes so you need to change quickly as we must leave in a hurry." He walked to a draw and took out some clothing and flung it at her. He then crossed his arms. Sakura stared blankly at him.

"Well hurry up then!" He cried

"What! I can't get changed with you watching!" She looked horrified at the very thought

"God woman, you are trying my patience! I've already had to change you once, don't make me have to do it again, we are short of time!"

Sakura's eyes widened at his comment and looked down to see she was wearing a nightdress. She felt somewhat embarrassed and violated at the same time.

"You- You changed my clothes, while I was unconscious?" she whispered, still shocked

Sasori had to refrain from rolling his eyes.

"It's not like I haven't seen I all before. I used to change people into puppets which required them to be naked. Now as I said before, hurry up and get changed, I don't like to be kept waiting."

"Could you at least turn around… please" Sakura whispered weakly. This time, he did roll his eyes. Muttering something about women, he obliged and she wasted no time in changing.

"**Oh… my… God! He's seen us naked! Now, if we can just find a way to return the favour…"a**

Sakura tuned out her inner's musings and alerted Sasori that she had finished. He lifted her up and leapt out the window with her, onto the roof of the building where they met Deidara waiting with a giant lay bird. Sakura could see smoke rising in the distance, confirming her earlier suspicions. They leapt onto the bird and it rose into the sky and headed away. Sasori put her down but kept one arm secured around her waist.

"Where are we going?" She whispered into his ear, making sure he could hear her.

"Somewhere away from here. You should take this time to rest, you must be feeling exhausted"

Sakura yawned, finally noticing just how tired she really was.

"Sounds like a good idea" She mumbled as she leaned into him in an attempt to get comfortable. She noticed Sasori tense up slightly before relaxing and shifting into a position that would allow them to both be comfortable.

"Mmm, you're much more comfortable than that bed back at the inn!" She sighed against him happily. She could practically feel him smirking at her comment but decided she really couldn't give a shit.

"Well, I think that you will find that I make a much nicer bed than any other" He whispered into her ear, his breath making her shudder. She leaned more into him; his chuckling lulling her closer to sleep, before a less sinister darkness, once again consumed her.

**Reviews are welcomed with open arms **


	3. Chapter 3

**The third chapter of my story! I hope you like : )**

"Psst… Sakura, wake up… _Sakura… wake up, un…_"

Sakura rolled away from the voice, tense and muttering angrily at the annoying voice attempting to disturb her from the comfort of her dreams. She felt someone shaking her so she whipped her hand around and smiled when she felt her hand come into contact with something and said something grunted in pain.

"Seriously Sakura, if you don't wake up now, you'll regret it, un"

"Piss off."

Sakura heard the voice sigh in irritation and she relaxed as she felt them walk away. She snuggled into the soft pillows and made a mental not to thank Sasori for choosing a place with such soft pillows. She was slowly slipping back into sleep when she faintly noticed someone moving towards her. She went to move but, unfortunately for her, she wasn't fast enough. She felt icy cold water come into contact with her body.

"AAAARRRRRRGGGGGHHHHHHH!"

Sakura's eyes snapped open as she jumped out of bed, shivering. She whipped her head round as she heard laughter and found the source. Deidara.

"Holy shit, un! If I had known I would be that easy and funny, I would've done it in the first place, un!" He was bent over from laughing. He looked up at her and started laughing again at her sodden state. Sakura's eyes narrowed dangerously.

"Deidara, you absolute prick! What kind of asshole goes around pouring water on people to get them to wake up! I was getting up anyways, I you had the patience to wait!" She screamed, walking up to him and pushing him. He looked at her as if she was mental.

"Patience! I've been trying to wake you up for ten whole minutes, un!" Sakura blinked.

"Ten minutes?"

"Yeah, un."

…

"What's the time?" Deidara turned and pointed towards the clock.

_12:00 O'clock…_

She was shocked that she had slept in for so long; usually Sasori would wake her up at around nine or ten. She then noticed that Sasori wasn't there.

"Where is he, I mean where is Sasori?"

"He went out an hour ago to gather some supplies." Deidara replied shortly. She winced at his tone of voice.

"**Probably pissed off that you shouted at him"** Sakura started shivering, remembering that she was soaked in icy water, and the room was already cold. Deidara noticed his and looked slightly guilty. He tossed her a towel and some clothes.

"The bathroom is the door to your left, you might want to freshen up, seeing as though we may be travelling for a while, and I'll be back in 20 minutes, un." He stood there awkwardly for a moment, and then turned to exit the room.

"Wait!" Sakura called. He turned to her with a questioning look on his face.

"Why are you being so nice to me? And what does Sasori want me for?" She asked. Those questions had been circling around inside her head for days now and she had only just remembered them now. Deidara seemed to puzzle this for a few seconds before shrugging and said:

"Why wouldn't I be nice to you, you've done nothing to me, un. And as for what Sasori wants, I don't know, so you'll have to ask him, un." And with that, he left, shutting and locking the door. Sakura growled, hoping that he would have forgotten to lock the door. It had been seven days since she had been taken from Konoha and so far, there had been no hint that anyone was looking for her. This made Sakura feel hurt so she decided not to dwell on her thoughts.

They had been travelling for four days after having to make a quick getaway from the small village they had been staying in while waiting for Sakura to make a recovery. Judging the distance between the two villages, she estimated that it should only have taken two days to walk there, however they were delayed as she had to keep stopping to rest

"_Damn Chakra seal…"_

She grunted in annoyance as she remembered the chakra seal that had been placed on her, rendering her defenceless.

"**Now, now Sakura lets no dwell on such depressing and angering thoughts and focus on more important things… Like that lovely shower waiting for us!"**

Sakura smiled as her inner's voice came into action. For the past few days, it had been the only thing that was keeping her sane, which was ironic as it isn't usually healthy to talk to voices inside of your head.

"**Oh, so is that all I am to you? A voice inside your head? I'm hurt Sakura, after all the things we have been through together-"**

"_Oh shut up" _Sakura cut in, smirking at her Inner's (slash her own) comments. Her Inner harrumphed in annoyance and fell silence as Sakura sighed happily at the warm water falling onto her. She grabbed a bar of soap and set to thoroughly cleansing her hair and body, making the most of the moment, knowing that I might be a while before she could use a shower again. After she had finished, she felt much better and more feminine. She clothed herself and checked the clock to see how long before Deidara returned.

_5 minutes…_

She examined the room and immediately froze when she saw a window. She hesitantly walked over to it and opened it.

_Click!_

She felt excitement build up in her as it swung open. She looked down and noticed she was only two floors up. She could easily drop out of the window without breaking anything, so without wasting any time, she did and immediately took off in the direction of a nearby forest. Meanwhile, Deidara had just entered the room calling Sakura's name. When she didn't reply he assumed she was still in the shower, until he saw the wide open window.

…

"_Shit, un. Sasori-danna is going to kill me!"_

…2 hours later…

Sakura had been running ever since she had left the village and had passed two more. Thankfully she hadn't run into Sasori or Deidara and was now running in the direction on Konoha (thanks to some civilians in the last village). She was starting to get tired so she stopped next to a river to take a drink and rest for a while.

"**We can't rest for too long or they'll catch up to us, and trust me, Sasori is gonna be pissed." **Her Inner oh so helpfully told her. Sakura rolled her eyes and started off again at a slower pace. She figured that if she stayed under the trees then they wouldn't be able to see her from above and they most likely would be looking for her on one of Deidara's creations. She slowed down her pace even more until she was fast walking. She wanted to be at least halfway to Konoha before she stopped for the night and found herself cursing Sasori for the Chakra seal, knowing that she could have covered half or even three times the distance she had covered already.

"**Sakura, don't panic right, but I think that someone is following us, I can't really make out the chakra signature. Don't attract any attention to yourself!"**

Sakura stiffened at this new piece of information and started moving slower but more quietly. Now that she was more aware of her surroundings, she could indeed sense a chakra signature. It seemed familiar but she couldn't determine whether it was a friendly familiar or not. She could feel it getting closer so she climbed into the nearest tree and waited for it to pass. A figure soon walked into view and stopped where she had been standing a few moments before. She squinted to get a look at their village headband and lightly gasped when she noticed that it was-

"**A Suna shinobi Sakura, and not just any random shinobi, it's Temari! Quickly, make yourself known!"**

"TEMARI!"

Said shinobi whipped her head round at the sound of her name and her face turned from a blank mask to one of surprise as she saw Sakura fall gracefully from the tree.

"Sakura?" She inquired as she slowly made her way towards her, Sakura nodded and leaped up to hug her.

"Oh my god, I'm so glad it was you that was passing by and not some random shinobi or even worse, another S-Class criminal! Oh man you've got to help me get back to Konoha before they find me! Oh my god, if they find me they might kill me! They might blow me up or worse, turn me into a puppet, we have to-" She was abruptly cut of as Temari clamped a hand over her mouth shaking her head in amusement.

"Sakura, you're rambling. Now take a deep breath and tell me who 'they' are." Sakura did as she said.

"Sasori and Deidara."

Temari stiffened; all amusement faded from her face and was replaced by a frown.

"I think you're mistaken Sakura, Sasori and Deidara are both dead, you must be delusional, now come on and we'll get you back to Suna and alert the Hokage. She was so worried when you went missing-" Sakura cut her off, shaking her head frantically.

"No you don't understand! I thought they were dead too until Sasori showed up and knocked me out, and I woke up in a room with him and Deidara! You've got to help me, before they find me!"

Temari paled slightly, contemplating what Sakura had just said and recounted that just a few days ago they had received a report of two people who matched the descriptions of Sasori and Deidara, but it was dismissed as look a likes, nothing but a coincidence. Sakura nodded her head quickly.

"Yes, I was there that day! Now come on, we have to move quickly. How far away are we from Suna?"

"About 4 hours away, if we run." Sakura visibly drooped at this

"I can't. They placed a chakra seal on me, I'm already weak enough as it is." She stated miserably. Temari looked at her for a minute, and then she turned around.

"Hop on my back, I'll carry you there, it might take longer, but not as long if you go at your pace." Sakura nodded and clambered onto her back. She wrapped her arms around Temari's neck and they took off.

…Meanwhile…

"I still can't believe you forgot to lock the window" Sasori stated exasperatedly.

Sakura had been wrong in assuming that they would be looking for her in the sky, it was much too obvious, and they didn't want to risk being recognized again, so they set out on foot. They should've caught up to her by now, if they hadn't been searching in the wrong direction for an hour and a half! If Sasori had been pissed off before, you could practically see steam coming out of his ears when a civilian stated that Konoha was in the opposite direction. Deidara once again apologised for his mistake, silently praying that Sasori didn't turn around and kill him there and then.

There had been no sign of her and Sasori was getting more and more angry and slightly worried; worried for her well being and worried that she may have been found by someone she knew. If she ran into danger, she wouldn't be able to defend herself properly due to the chakra seal. _She's a medic, she's been trained to block attacks and evade danger,_ A voice in his head provided, slightly reassuring him. This however, was replaced with more worry as he thought about someone finding her. She would tell them about him and Deidara and alert the shinobi world of their existence, effectively ruining his plans.

"Sasori-danna, we are about 6 hours away from Suna, there is a chance that she is headed in that direction. What do we do if she makes it there?" Deidara inquired hesitantly.

Sasori tensed at the mention of his former home and his expression hardened.

"If she makes it to Suna, then we will just have to wait for her to leave. No doubt they will either send her to Konoha with an entourage of shinobi to ensure her safety, or Konoha shinobi will be sent to pick her up. It is a two to three day interval from Suna to Konoha. We will follow them on the first day. On the second day we attack and take back Sakura. Leave no-one alive."

Deidara nodded at this. His thoughts strayed to Sakura and what would happen to her once she was re-captured. He shuddered at what forms of torture might be circulating inside Sasori's head. He kept quiet for a few minutes, but couldn't help it.

"What are you going to do once you find her?" Sasori thought about it before smiling back at Deidara.

"Well I'm just going to have to show her what happens when she tries to run away. You know, just to teach her a lesson." The smile seemed innocent enough but Deidara could see the malicious intentions swirling around in his eyes and found himself feeling sorry for the girl, but at the same time, glad that he wasn't her.

…With Sakura…

Sakura looked over Temari's shoulder and nearly cried out in relief when she saw the village of Suna in the distance. They had entered the desert an hour ago, and she had started to become de-hydrated, thanks to the relentless sun. She wanted to complain but didn't as Temari had gone out her way to help Sakura and was probably feeling the effects of the sun aswel. Complaining wouldn't help anyone.

They reached the gates and Temari showed them her identification. They looked at Sakura with mixed looks of shock and slight confusion. Temari then bounded onto the roofs of the buildings o get the Kazekage quicker. They reached the Kazekage's building in less than two minutes.

"Temari, I can walk now, you can let me down. Thank you for your help" Sakura whispered softly. Temari complied and held Sakura's hand as they approached the door leading to Gaara.

"They're gonna want to know what exactly happened. Will you e able to tell them?" Sakura nodded.

"Nothing much did happen, I'll be fine, don't worry." Temari nodded back and knocked on the door. She gave Sakura's hand a quick squeeze before releasing it when they heard 'Enter'. Temari pushed open the door and bowed deeply.

"Kazekage-sama"

Gaara smiled slightly at his sister

"You don't have to keep doing that Temari, I'm your brother" Temari returned the smile, then moved out of the way to reveal Sakura. Gaara's smile slipped and was replaced by a brief look of shock.

"Sakura!"

Sakura smiled sheepishly and waved.

"Hi, Gaara"

He paused for a moment, collecting his thoughts. Sakura observed him, noticing how much he had changed. His red hair had grown, not quite reaching his shoulders. His skin was looking healthier now that he could sleep and he had acquired a slight tan from the sun now that he could control his sand armour.

"**All in all, Gaara got hot!"** Sakura blushed slightly at her Inner's outburst, rolling her eyes, but found her agreeing (with herself). She realised that Gaara was talking and started paying more attention.

"- and Temari tells me that you have had a chakra seal placed on you? Well we'll have someone try to remove it. You must be tired so I'll leave the questioning until tomorrow. For now, you will be staying with me and my family while I alert Lady Tsunade that you have been found. Now, could you wait outside while Temari gives me her report for her mission?"

Sakura tensed as he asked her to wait outside. To be honest, she was afraid to be by herself. This was Sasori's former home. What if he had contacts here? They could easily take her and return her to him. Gaara noticed her hesitation

"She's probably afraid to be alone." Temari whispered into his ear, also noticing her hesitation. Gaara nodded.

"Very well then. You take her back to the house and I'll collect the report from you later, when I have finished here. And send Kankuro here please, I need to speak with him" Temari nodded and he noticed Sakura relax as she realised that she wouldn't have to be alone after all. He watched as Temari took her hand and guided her out the door. Sakura turned back and waved to him, before closing the door. Gaara shook his head at her antics, smiling slightly while returning to the paperwork on his desk.

…Many hours later…

It was midnight when Gaara had finished. He quickly made his way home. Temari was probably asleep by now so he would have to get her report tomorrow. He entered his house and headed straight for the kitchen. He was starving. He moved to the living room to sit down and eat, when he noticed a figure sitting on his chair. A figure with pink hair.

"Sakura?"

Said person jumped so violently, she fell off the chair. She stood back up again, grinning embarrassedly, rubbing her head.

"Hey Gaara, you startled me, sorry about that!" He narrowed his eyes at her

"You should be asleep" He stated. She dropped her grin and averted her eyes.

"I couldn't sleep." She whispered softly. Gaara's gaze softened.

"Temari filled me in. I've alerted all the shinobi in the village about Sasori and Deidara. They won't be able to get in the village. You're safe here." He explained, hoping to reassure her. Unfortunately she wasn't.

"But he knows I'm here! He's probably waiting for me to leave so he can get me! And then…" she trailed off, shuddering.

"Well in that case, I'll have some shinobi scout the desert and forest for him" He said. Sakura brightened immediately.

"Oh Gaara, would you do that?" He nodded and she smiled. The next thing he knew she was hugging him. He stiffened, not expecting this display of affection, before wrapping his arms around her o return the hug. She turned her head and gasped.

"Is that cookie dough ice-cream?" Gaara blushed and nodded his head.

"Can I have some" she asked.

"Of course you can. Go grab a spoon and come join me on the couch." She rushed off and was back in a few seconds. He grabbed a blanket and wrapped it around the shoulders as they snuggled into the couch. Ten minutes later, the ice-cream was all finished and they were lying down, Sakura was filling in Gaara on Naruto's activities.

"He's dating Hinata Hyuuga. You know, the really shy girl. About time if you ask me, she's had a crush on him for years, the oblivious fool…" she muttered the last bit to herself as Gaara chuckled.

"Yes I noticed her affection for him the last time I visited. Why she likes him, I'll never know." Sakura sniggered at this. She yawned slightly and buried her head into the crook of Gaara's neck, unaware of his blush at her actions.

"I'm tired…" she mumbled into him. A few moments later, her breathing had evened out and Gaara realised that she was asleep. He smiled down at her, his hand reaching out to move a stray bit of hair away from her face. He yawned and closed his eyes, telling himself that he would carry her to her room in five minutes, and then go to bed. Wrapping his arm around Sakura's waist to make sure she didn't fall off the couch and quickly drifted off to sleep, with Sakura in his arms.

And that was how Kankuro and Temari found them the next morning.

**Awww, how sweet, I love GaaSaku just as much as I love SasoSaku… now I don't know whether I should make this a GaaSaku fic or a SasoSaku fic… hmmm decisions, decisions.**

**Reviews are love : )**


	4. Chapter 4

**The fourth chapter! YAY : )! Enjoy**

Sakura sighed happily. It had been four days since she had been found by Temari and brought to the village of Suna… and three days since she had awoken to Temari snapping happily away with a camera. There were at least fifty photos of her and Gaara lying together on the couch (no joke, Temari counted them in front of her). She blushed slightly at the memory. But she didn't mind, thanks to Gaara, she'd been able to relax again.

Gaara had kept his word and had sent out scouts to locate Sasori and Deidara, and no trace of either of them had been found. She smiled at the thought that they had given up their search for her.

"**Don't go raising your hopes up; you'd be a fool to. You know that they are out there, plotting…" **Her Inner cut across her happy thoughts with her bleak warning.

'_Way to ruin my mood'_ Sakura scowled. She turned to look out the window. She was currently in her room at Gaara's house. Temari was on another mission, Gaara was busy being the Kazekage, and she didn't know where the hell Kankuro was. Everyone had been so busy, they hadn't been able to get out and see the village. She had been warned against going on her own as she could get lost.

'_Being cooped up in here is starting o feel like being trapped with Sasori and Deidara.'_ Sakura thought miserably.She stood up and made her way to the kitchen. It was a hot day so she decided to eat the rest of Gaara's ice-cream.

"**That'll teach him a lesson for leaving us stuck here without any entertainment!"** Sakura's Inner chuckled evilly. Sakura rolled her eyes. Her Inner's idea of entertainment was walking in on Gaara practically naked, like just the other day…

Sakura's blush returned full force as she wen to sit down, remembering exactly what had happened…

_She had been sitting down in the living room, fanning herself. As usual, it was another scorching hot day… in Suna… in the desert._

"_**Jesus Christ, how the hell do these people live in these conditions? They must descend from fucking camels or something…"**__ Her Inner had been moaning for the past five minutes, and combined with the heat, it was really starting to piss her off. She was thinking about sticking her head in the freezer, when it hit her like a punch in the face from lady Tsunade._

'_Holy shit! Ice-cream! Why didn't I think of it before?' She jumped up and ran into the kitchen, nearly ripping open the freezer door in her haste, to find…_

"_**Oh. My. GOD! THERE IS NO MORE ICE-CREAM. WHY GOD, WHY!"**__ Her Inner's scream caused a mini headache as Sakura dropped to floor in defeat. The heat was going to kill her. What kind of a host was…_

"_**GAARA! Go upstairs and tell him to get some more ice-cream, problem solved!"**__ Her Inner provided excitedly. Sakura jumped up and ran to the stairs, taking two at a time in her rush to get to him. She stopped at the top of the stairs, trying to remember which damned room was his._

'_There are so many doors! Who the hell needs that many doors?' she figured it out and burst into his room._

"_Gaara, oh my god, it's an emer- HOLY SHIT! I AM SO SORRY!" Her hands flew to her eyes. There, standing right in front of her, was a semi-naked Gaara, the only thing he had on was a towel wrapped around his head. He had been in the process of drying his hair, when he froze in shock at Sakura sudden appearance. They stood in those positions for what seemed like ages, before Gaara spoke._

"_Umm… Sakura? Why did you suddenly feel the need to enter my room, unannounced?" he asked her hesitantly._

"_Umm, w-well you see, it was so h-hot and I wanted some ice-cream, b-but there wasn't any left, s-so I was going to ask…" She stumbled over her words, trailing off. Her Inner was screaming at her to remove her hands so she could get another look._

"_**OH MY GOD! He is so FIT! Please Sakura, take your hands away for just one second, I have to see his AMAZING body again!"**__ Her Inner was literally begging her. She refused to, but her Inner flashed a brief, but extremely effective image into her head, and she couldn't help it. She subtly moved her one of her fingers away to see... And saw Gaara standing there, one hand resting on his hips, a bemused expression on his face. She felt her Inner pass out._

'_At least she finally shut up-' Her train of thought was interrupted as she was Gaara smirk and start moving towards her; he had caught her staring at him. She backed away, hands falling from her face as she tried to escape his room. She felt herself hit the now closed door._

'_Oh great, how fucking convenient' she mentally snarled. On the outside, she was trying to figure out what the hell to do. She watched as Gaara drew closer, raising both his arms to rest on the door at either side of her head, trapping her between him and the door. She turned her head to the side, breathing quickly and shut her eyes as she felt his head draw closer to hers. He raised his mouth to her ear, his lips softly brushing against her ear._

"_Like what you see, Sakura" He whispered into her ear, his breath making her shudder. Suddenly he moved and she took it as an opportunity to escape. She opened and ran out his room and into hers, his laugh ringing in her ears. She slammed her door shut and rest against it, her hand against her chest, trying to soothe her racing heart._

_**SLAM!**_

She was brought back to reality as she heard someone enter the house. She shot up from her seated position and wen to greet however was home. Of course, it had to be Gaara.

"**Well, you know what they say… Speak of the devil, and the devil shall appear, or in this case, think about the devil…"** She tuned out her Inner's voice as she greeted Gaara.

"So, what brings you home so early?"

"Well, I was thinking about you and how you must be bored, being stuck here all day long, so I summoned Kankuro and ordered him to finish the rest of my work, and I came to take you on a tour of the village." Sakura smiled at his thoughtfulness. She couldn't help but wonder if his thoughts about her, were the exact same as her thoughts about him.

"Alright, I'll be with you in a sec, just let me put away the rest of my Ice-cream, before I melts." She smirked slightly as she heard him groan.

"Gods, woman. For one, it's my ice-cream. Secondly, I'm going to end up bankrupt from the amount of ice-cream I'm buying you to keep you happy!" He was so serious when he said this; Sakura would have believed he was angry, if it hadn't been for the slightly playful twinkle in his eyes. She decided to try and catch him of guard.

"You don't have to keep buying me ice-cream." She spoke softly, looking up into his eyes. He blanched for a second, before smirking.

"Now then Sakura, I wouldn't be a very good host, if I didn't keep my guests… satisfied." Sakura froze and blushed as he smirked.

"**Damn! He's good!"** Sakura scowled and walked past him with her nose in the air. Unfortunately for her, she didn't get too far, when she felt an arm wrap around her waist and found herself being pulled towards him.

"Come now Sakura, are you purposely trying to make me look bad? I'd be an even worse host if I offered to take my guest out, and then lost her!" He faked a look of Horror and Sakura couldn't help herself as she giggled.

"Oh shut up and show me around!" She replied haughtily

"As you wish, Madame," he replied in a snobbish tone, as Sakura giggled at his behaviour. They wandered around for hours, looking at everything. They came across a clothing store and Gaara dragged her inside, claiming it was about time that she got her own clothes, instead of wandering around in Temari's old clothing. This surprised Sakura, but none-the-less, she complied with his demands. They spent over an hour in the store and as they left, Sakura had five new outfits. She nearly had a fit when Gaara paid for them, but he easily distracted her by claiming they were nearly out of ice-cream.

It was growing dark and most of the shops were closing, they passed a jewellery store and Sakura stopped, transfixed at a necklace on display.

"It's beautiful, she whispered to no-one in particular. Gaara peered at in. it was a simple silver chain with a small ruby. The ruby was surrounded by small emeralds, sapphires and crystals. He coughed to gain her attention. She turned around to look at him, displeased that she had to look around.

"Sakura it is getting late, we really should be going. You're going to need your rest tomorrow, the leaf shinobi will be arriving." She sighed and nodded her head. She started to move when Gaara called to the shop keeper.

"Excuse me, ma'am. How much is this necklace?" he gestured to the one on display. The shopkeeper smiled.

"It was 4192 Yen Kazekage-sama, but I am willing to sell it for 2096 Yen" she said, smiling softly and bowing. Either way Gaara paid the full amount. Sakura stood there, gaping at him. He smirked at this.

"Close your mouth, Sakura; you don't want to catch flies now, would you? And think of it as a parting gift." He explained as he put it on her. Sakura beamed at this.

"Well seeing as you're so kind to give me a parting gift, I'll have to give you one in return!" In one fluid movement, she spun around and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips, turned back around and skipped off, leaving Gaara standing there. It took him a few moments to realise what happened, when he remembered that she still didn't fully know her way around the village.

"Sakura, slow down!" He called after her as he sprinted to catch up.

At Gaara's House

As he and Sakura entered the house laughing, they were greeted with a 'SHUT THE FUCK UP' from Kankuro. They blinked and moved towards him. He turned o Gaara, pointing at him

"Never again, you Bastard, NEVER AGAIN!" And with that, he turned and stormed up the stairs. Sakura's hand was covering her mouth to try and stop herself from laughing, but nearly fell over from laughing as she saw Gaara's facial expression.

"What did I do?" He asked her, confusement etched upon his face. Sakura's laughter died down as she retrieved the ice-cream from the fridge. She took Gaara's hand and pulled him to the couch, where they sat down and started eating the ice-cream.

"Thanks again for the necklace, it's absolutely beautiful." She said after they had finished the ice-cream. She stood up to take the carton to the bin, when she was pulled back and within seconds, Gaara was on top of her, straddling her waist as he tossed the empty carton to the side.

"Yes, I was very beautiful, and expensive. In fact, I don't think your little _gift_ for me just wasn't enough. I think I deserve more." At this point, Sakura forgot how to breathe. His head was getting closer to hers. Her eyes were starting to close as she raised her head to meet his. She could feel his breath on her face-

"Hey Gaara, have you seen Sak- WOAH! What are you doing to poor Sakura!" Temari's voice startled them both, Gaara jumped so violently, he fell off the couch.

"**AAHHH! BITCH! WE WERE SO CLOSE!" **Inner Sakura screamed, practically crying. Sakura shot up and helped Gaara get up as Temari shouted something about how evil Gaara was, and him corrupting poor Sakura. While Temari was distracted Gaara leant into Sakura.

"Come to my room at midnight, so we can finish off what my darling sister so rudely interrupted." Sakura felt her legs wobble at his husky tone and watched as he told Temari to shut up and walked off, turning back briefly to wink at her. As soon as he was gone, Temari turned to Sakura with a knowing look in her eyes. She smirked and Sakura gulped.

"Well… I think it's time you and I had a little chat Sakura, _dear." _Temari cooed menacingly. She took Sakura's hand and dragged her upstairs. Sakura gave a frightened whimper as she was dragged into her own room and the door was slammed shut. Three hours until midnight.

'_Inner… I'm scared!'_

"**Don't worry Sakura… I'm shitting myself too."**

Midnight

Sakura sighed tiredly. She seemed to be sighing a lot lately. Temari had interrogated her harshly. She had demanded a full explanation on what the hell had happened so Sakura told her about him buying her the necklace. Sakura ended up describing her whole day with him. She was still suspicious at his behaviour but Sakura refused to tell her about their previous run-in. to no avail.

Temari had threatened to break the necklace. Sakura refused to say anything. Then Temari lit a fire and dangled the necklace over it. Sakura thought she was bluffing and still wouldn't say anything. Then she slipped the chain a little bit until it was in the fire. At that moment Sakura knew she meant business. She shouted at her to stop and spilt the 'juicy details' a Temari put them. After explaining to her, Temari looked as though Christmas had come early. She went on and on about how cute they would look together, then said that she _and_ Kankuro approved and abruptly left. Sakura was left blinking, clutching her necklace, half an hour until midnight.

"**Time to go see Gaara!"** Inner squealed inside her head, making Sakura wince. However she found herself growing excited. She snuck out her room and down the hall. Taking a deep breath, she knocked on Gaara's door. She heard footsteps coming closer. She drew in another breath and let it go as the door opened to reveal… a top less Gaara. He raised his eyebrows in mock surprise.

"Why Sakura, I didn't realise it was you. I was under the impression that you barged into people's rooms without knocking!" He exclaimed in a sarcastic voice. She pushed past him scowling and crossing her arms. She heard the door swing shut and was spun round and pushed onto his bed. He was straddling her again. He leant towards her.

"Now…Where were we?" He leant closer when a knock on the door shocked them

"OI! Use a condom!" Came Kankuro's voice

"If you get her pregnant Gaara… I'LL KILL YOU!" His voice was followed by Temari's. Sakura blushed until she was the colour of Gaara's her as said person groaned and muttered something about 'no privacy'.

"TEMARI! KANKURO! PISS OFF!" A little bit of Inner Sakura coming through. Gaara smirked at her and before they could be interrupted again, Gaara captured her lips with his. It was surprisingly sweet, yet strangely possessive at the same time. They kissed for what seemed like forever before they broke apart, gasping for air. Sakura gasped and looked up at him smiling.

"Had some practise then Gaara?" She teased breathlessly. He smirked mischievously at her and tapped his nose twice. Her eyes widened and she laughed, slapping his shoulder. He kissed her again, a bit more roughly, and she kissed back, matching his ferocity. He broke the kiss and lay next to her, watching her.

"You're leaving tomorrow." He stated softly. She rolled onto her side so she was facing him. She brought a hand up to his face and cupped his cheek.

"I'll have to leave at some point, Konoha's my home and besides, everyone is probably worried about me. When it's safer, I'll come back and visit, I promise." She assured him. She stared at her, then buried his head into the crook of her neck.

"You better. If you don't, I'll come to Konoha myself and take you back. And next time I won't let you go." He whispered possessively. Sakura chuckled at this and hugged him.

"I couldn't stay away from you. You're to amusing to be around. And I must admit, I've become rather… attached to you." Gaara smirked at this.

"Well good, because I have become attached to you and I am not willing to let you go." Sakura's smile faded as she rested her head on Gaara's chest. She sighed and he looked at her questioningly.

"I'm going to miss you." She admitted

"And I you, my dear." She smiled as he wrapped his arms around her, also smiling, and for the second time, they fell asleep in each other's arms.

The next day

Sakura almost, _almost,_ sighed in relief, as the forest came into view. They had been travelling for a day. Thanks to a fucking sand storm, they had to stop for shelter. Naruto had come to collect her, along three ANBU. Gaara had felt uneasy letting her go, so he had Kankuro join them, for at least half of the trip there. As soon as they reached the trees, the Konoha shinobi would rest for a few hours and Kankuro would head back.

Sakura smiled softly as Naruto whooped in joy at the oncoming forest, recalling their reunion and her tearful (on her and Temari's part) departure. As soon as Sakura had come into his sight, Naruto jumped onto her, hugging her. Sakura, not expecting this, fell to the ground on contact, bringing Naruto with her. Gaara growled and pulled Naruto of her and ended up on the floor as Naruto turned to hug him. After untangling their limbs (after Temari had taken a picture of course), it was time for goodbyes. She hugged Kankuro, then Temari, and finally Gaara, their hug lasting the longest

"Don't forget your promise." He whispered to her

"Don't worry, I won't." she released him and stepped towards the gate, turning round one last time to wave, and then took off.

They carried on running for ten more minutes, before they found a suitable place to rest.

"Aah, fuck this! I'm camping with you guys for a bit before I head back.

"Sure man, its fine by me" Naruto stretched yawning as Sakura shrugged. One of the ANBU headed off towards a river to get food while the other two kept a look out. Kankuro, Naruto and Sakura sat around, chatting leisurely for a while when they heard a bang. They tensed and they jumped up, kunai in hand. They heard another bang. It was silent for a minute when they heard a blood curdling scream, which was suddenly cut off.

Sakura started hyperventilating.

"Oh shit, they found me!" she was panicking now. Naruto grabbed her fiercely and started running. Kankuro was shouting after them.

"Get as far away as you can, I'll hold them off" his voice was growing fainter and they heard a third explosion, much closer.

"KANKURO!" Sakura couldn't breathe. She wouldn't forgive herself if anything happened to him. Naruto seemed to read her mind.

"Don't you worry about him Sakura; he can take care of himself! You just focus on getting away from here alive and in one piece". They carried on running when Naruto suddenly stopped.

"What is it?" Sakura whispered hurriedly. Naruto was tense.

"One of them is close. I'll distract them, you get as far away as you can, do you understand me?"

"Naruto, I-"

"_**I said do you understand me!" **_Sakura gasped as she saw his eyes had turned red. Terrified, she nodded and took off again.

Gaara stared out the window of his office. Even though he knew she was in safe hands, he couldn't help but worry about her. _Now,_ _don't you worry about her? She has three ANBU who have orders to protect her no matter what. And on top of that, Naruto and Kankuro are there, who won't let anything happen to her anyways, orders or no orders. _Gaara relaxed. Weird as it was. The voice in the back of his head was right. He swung around in his chair to continue his paperwork.

After a while, he began to get thirsty, I reached for the glass on the edge of his desk, sharply drawing back as it cracked before he could even touch it. His eyes widened in horror as he stared at it

_Bad omen…_

Sakura carried on running, not daring to look back. She felt tears coming to her eyes as she thought about Naruto and Kankuro, praying that they were alright. She picked up her pace, scared that they might catch up. At this thought, on reflex, she looked around. The coast was clear. She turned back around.

_**SLAP!**_

Sakura fell to the ground, stars dancing behind her eyelids as she was back handed sharply. She felt tears burning behind her eyes and felt one escape her closed eyes and slide down her cheek as she heard someone chuckling.

"Sakuraaaa…" Said voice cooed mockingly. She turned her head and felt a hand roughly grab her chin and turn it back.

"_Open your eyes" _A voice whispered to her. She did as they said, afraid of what would happen if she didn't, and came face to face with Sasori, who was grinning evilly at her, his eyes promising pain. He brought his head towards her.

"Tut, tut, tut my dear, you've been a very naughty girl"

She felt her body freeze up as he used his chakra strings to hold her in place, Sakura was completely at his mercy, and the worst part was that he didn't know what mercy was, so she done the only thing she could do.

She screamed.

**Oooohhh! Tense! Well, tell me what you think, and remember… Reviews are a form of Love : )**


	5. Chapter 5

**Well, talk about a cliff-hanger… anyways, here is my fifth chapter : )**

"LET ME OUT, YOU BASTARD! LET ME THE FUCK OUT!" Sakura knew that screaming was useless, but she did it anyways, because it was a way to release her anger. She stared around the room with hatred. After Sasori had caught up with her, she had dragged her by her hair, to Naruto's bruised and bloody body. Sakura had screamed at him, thinking that Naruto was dead.

"Oh, don't worry my dear; he's not dead… yet. I'm merely using him as, leverage, shall we say." Sasori had explained, all the while, smirking evilly.

"W-what do you mean, 'leverage'?" Sakura gulped. Sasori then proceeded to explain that if she didn't come with them willingly and quietly, then he would kill the 'Jinchuuriki'. Sakura had spat obscenities at him, but in the end, complied with his request, knowing that he would indeed kill Naruto… and she couldn't risk it. He hadn't mentioned Kankuro, so Sakura had hoped that he had managed to get away to alert Gaara.

'_That fucking prick. When I get out of here, I swear to God that I'll kill-' _Her thoughts were cut across as Sasori entered the room she had been locked in, a blank look on his face. They stared at each other for a few minutes before he beckoned her to follow him. She glared at him defiantly. His face hardened and in an instant, he was standing before her, a tight grip on her arm.

"I want you to come with me, so you will come with me. I've told you once before that I am not a very patient man, Sakura; you would do well to remember that." He hissed menacingly into her ear. He sounded so deranged; she let out an involuntary shudder. He relinquished his grip on her arm. He turned around and headed towards the door. Sakura stood there, dazed, before she stumbled to catch up with him.

They walked through a maze of hallways for God knows how long, giving Sakura enough time to analyze her surroundings. The hallway was dark, with a few doors here and there, probably leading to more rooms. No sign of an escape route. Sakura drooped at this and turned her attention back to Sasori.

"Where are you taking me anyways?" Sakura hadn't seen him for about 2 days, Or possibly more. Or in fact, it might have only been a day. She'd been cooped up in that damned room for ages, just falling in and out of consciousness, she'd lost track of time. He looked over his shoulder at her, face completely expressionless.

"I wanted to show you something." He left it at that. After a few more twists and turns they same to a door. It was a relatively ordinary door and Sakura wondered what the hell it was that he wanted to show her.

"**The air… it doesn't smell right." **Her Inner murmured. Sakura sniffed and paled. Blood. Sakura was silently panicking. She started shivering as Sasori opened the door and stood aside for her.

"Ladies first," he said in a monotone voice. Sakura hesitantly stepped through the door, Sasori close behind her. The room was dark and she squinted, trying to look for the source of the blood. The smell had intensified. She heard a click and turned her head to see Sasori flicking a switch. The room filled with light. She heard a groan and whipped her head round. Her mouth dropped and she felt bile rising in her throat.

"Kankuro?"

With Gaara

Gaara couldn't remember the last time he had felt so afraid. He had been worrying about Sakura when his glass had cracked. That had made the feeling intensify. When Kankuro did not return, Gaara assumed it was due to the sandstorm. Seven hours later, Gaara couldn't take it anymore, so he had sent out some scouts to locate him. He had been praying that his idiot brother had accidently fallen asleep somewhere, and that all was well.

It was hopeless.

The scouts returned in the morning. The first one presented him with his brother's bloody and scratched Sunagakure forehead protector. The second presented him with a ripped and bloody cloth, the same cloth of the top that Sakura had been wearing when she had departed. The next four carried in the beaten body of his closest friend. Medic nins were called to the scene immediately where he was revived just long enough to confirm his fears.

Sasori and Deidara had taken them.

Naruto was then taken to the hospital, under critical condition. He sat down to write a letter to Tsunade while someone went to retrieve Temari.

_Lady Tsunade-hime, Godaime Hokage,_

_It is, to my regret, my duty to inform you of some troubling news. The platoon that was sent out return your apprentice, Sakura Haruno, was ambushed. The set out yesterday a exactly 12.00 O'clock, noon. Naruto Uzumaki was found at the site of the ambush, and now resides in hospital, in critical condition. He was revived and told us that it was indeed Sasori and Deidara who staged the ambush. They have re-captured Sakura, along with my brother, Kankuro. We now await Naruto to fully recover as to gain a full synopsis on what happened._

_I anxiously await your letter and hope for advice on what course of action should be taken next_

_Yours sincerely_

_Gaara, Lord Kazekage_

He handed the note to a random chuunin and instructed them to send it to Konoha. Not moments later, Temari came bursting through the doors, a terrified tear streaked face, assaulting him with questions.

"Gaara! What the hell happened? They said that Naruto-kun is in hospital and that Kankuro and Sakura haven't been found! Is Naruto okay? Why haven't they found Sakura or Kankuro? Where are they-?"

"Peace, sister. There is no easy way to say this, so I'm just going to come right out with it." He took a deep breath. "Sakura has been re-captured by Sasori and Deidara, and for some reason they have taken Kankuro as well. They were ambushed and Naruto appears to have been tortured. We won't know for sure until Naruto recovers." A fresh sob broke through Temari's lips and she threw herself at Gaara, hugging him. Gaara returned her hug, gripping her tightly to reassure her.

"Oh god, poor Sakura. Why did they have to get her? And Kankuro, we just got out family back together, what if they-" She broke down, unable and unwilling to finish that sentence. Gaara placed his forehead on her trembling shoulders, his own shoulders trembling from suppressed sobs. He felt a lone tear slip down his face. Shocked, her realised this was the first time he had cried since the incident with Yashamaru. _'Sometimes, it's good to cry. To let all your feelings out in a form other then violence.'_ A voice in the back of his head stated. Gaara found himself easily agreeing with it, as he too broke down in his sister's arms.

'_Please, God, let them be okay. Let them be alive…'_

With Sakura

Sakura stared in horror. Kankuro sat in a chair in front of her. His clothes had been ripped and you could see several gashes beneath it, all very deep. His clothing was dirty, soaked in blood and sweat. His eyes were unfocused and it looked as though he was fighting to stay awake. His right leg stuck out at an odd angle and his hands were bound behind him. Standing a few metres behind him was Deidara. Sakura glared at him and he averted his eyes.

"How could you? He didn't do anything to you, so why?" Sakura's voice hitched as she fought back tears. Sasori placed a hand on her shoulder and she found that she didn't have the energy to shrug it off.

"He faced me off as I went after you. We defeated him easily and we were going to leave him, but you see, after I saw how willingly you came after I threatened the Uzumaki child, I brought him along, as away to keep you… obedient, shall we say." Sakura turned and glared at him hatefully.

"Piss off." She spat at him. He looked at her and turned o Deidara, nodding his head. Deidara grabbed a Kunai and in less than a second had dug it into Kankuro's leg. He let out an ear piercing scream of agony as Deidara twisted it around, making I sink deeper into his flesh.

Sakura moved to run forward, but was pulled back and slammed into a wall by Sasori. She was crying now and Sasori peered at her curiously, but Sakura didn't care.

"Please, stop it, you're hurting him!" She begged him tearfully

"Now do you see? If you don't do something I say, then Kankuro will pay for it. Now, from here on, you are going to do everything and anything I tell you to do, understand?" Sakura didn't like his tone of voice, but Kankuro's screaming made up her mind.

"Yes, okay, I'll do whatever you want, just stop hurting him, please." Deidara stopped and Kankuro's screaming was replaced with heavy panting. Sakura was sobbing now, so Sasori picked her up and carried her bridal style away from the room. When they reached her room, he placed her on the bed located next to the window (which was locked and barred), pulled up a chair and sat there, watching as she stared blankly at the ceiling.

Eventually, her eyes travelled to his.

"Will I be allowed to visit him?" She whispered brokenly. He nodded.

"But only if you earn the privilege." He warned. She nodded and looked sick for a moment. He rose from his seated position and moved to leave when she stopped him.

"Sasori, when you said everything… did you mean…" She was too scared to finish her sentence. His eyes landed in her, his empty reddish-brown eyes boring into her glittering emerald ones. She searched for any signs of emotion but found none. Eventually he nodded.

"Yes, I meant everything," His tone was husky and with saying that, he left her alone to her disturbing and troubled thoughts.

With Gaara

The nurses had told him that Naruto would be waking up soon. He sat in the room, resting his head in his hands. He could only hope that Naruto knew anything, otherwise all hope that his brother was alive, was lost. He peeked through his fingers at the clock. It was seven O'clock. Naruto had only been out for a day, but for Gaara, it felt like months. It was deathly quiet, except for the machine monitoring Naruto's heartbeat. Naruto suddenly let out a moan, and opened his eyes, squinting while they adjusted to the light.

"Uuh, where am I? Why is it so white? Shit, am I dead!" His voice, hoarse from little use, took on a panicked edge as he made this revelation. He shot up and immediately lowered himself back down, hissing in pain. Gaara had jumped up to help him.

"You shouldn't be moving at all, they messed you up pretty bad." Gaara spoke softly. "You've been out a day and a half. Now I would usually wait but it is of extreme importance that you tell me exactly what happened when you left Suna." Naruto looked up at him, frowning as he tried to remember.

"Umm, we were… resting. We just made it to the forest as the sun was setting, you know, because of the sandstorm. Kankuro was resting with us, to regain his strength. We were chatting while the ANBU went to go get some food and water, and scout the area. After a bit, we heard some explosions. Then we heard a scream. Kankuro told us to go on ahead, and that he would hold them off for as long as he could, I'm sorry Gaara, I don't know what happened to him after that." Gaara swallowed and beckoned for Naruto to continue.

"Sakura and I managed to put a few miles between us and the site, then I noticed someone was following us. I told her to go on ahead and I stopped to fight. A red-haired guy appeared, and I assumed he was Sasori. We fought for a bit. He eventually got the upper hand, and disabled me. I asked if he was going to kill me and he said that he was going to use me to make sure Sakura went with them." He paused for a moment as he pondered what he had just said. "Maybe that's what they're using Kankuro for, to make sure Sakura doesn't try to escape again."

Gaara closed his eyes in relief at the knowledge that here was a big chance that his brother was still alive, even if in the clutches of two deadly missing-nins. He also knew that Sakura wouldn't dare leave his brother there and would do anything to assure that he was okay. A dark feeling arose in his mind. _She would do anything…_

"Thank-you Naruto, this information was extremely helpful. I am awaiting a letter from Lady Tsunade, and now all that remains is a conference on what to do next. After this we will be sending out Shinobi, from both Konoha and Suna, to find Sakura and my brother." Naruto, to his surprise, looked enraged by this.

"A conference! Why wait, you should dispatch the ninja immediately. You know Sakura would do anything to make sure Kankuro is alright Gaara, _anything_!" The emphasis Naruto put on the word 'anything' meant he had come to the same conclusion that he had. He agreed with Naruto, but unfortunately…

"It's protocol, Naruto. You know we can't just do these things without consorting the elders first. I know things are the same in you village. No doubt they will send out a team to find them, but we have to do things by the book. It's the way things are." Naruto looked as if he were about to argue but Gaara cut him off.

"You should sleep, Naruto. I believe you will be required to attend the meeting as your opinion may count, and for that, you will need to be in top condition. Good night." And with that he bowed and left, leaving a pissed and tired Naruto to mumble to himself.

Gaara sighed. He knew he shouldn't worry about the conference. Kankuro was the Kazekage's brother, far too valuable to give up, due to the information about the village he had. Information which if leaked could most likely bring the downfall of Suna. And as for Sakura, she was the Hokage's apprentice, a very skilled medic nin, and Gaara's love interest. A light blush adorned Gaara's check as he thought about the last fact. It seemed the elders had noticed his fascination for Sakura, and had been in the process of making plans, plans including him and Sakura marrying. According to them, this would strengthen the allegiance between Suna and Konoha.

His thoughts strayed back to what Naruto had said. _'You know Sakura would do anything to make sure Kankuro is alright Gaara, anything!'_ He shivered and felt hate and worry boil up inside of him. Sakura would do anything, and he could only hope that Sasori and Deidara weren't that kind of sick…

After all, he could only hope…

With Sakura

Sakura wiped at her eyes. There wasn't a clock in her room, so she didn't know how long she had been lying there, but she guessed it was a pretty long time. After Sasori had left, she had begun crying again, and had only just stopped. She kept thinking about Kankuro, Naruto and Gaara. She got up and tried to open her door. To her surprise, it opened. She briefly considered making a mad dash for an exit. Then she remembered Kankuro.

'_No need to lock the door when I promised I wouldn't escape, otherwise Kankuro will have to pay.'_ She thought bitterly. She looked into the hallway

"Sasori!" She called out, half hoping for him to appear. After a few moments, a door that was quite close to hers, opened and Sasori poked his head out.

"Yes, Sakura?" he asked politely. Sakura stared at him, and gulped.

"I-I was j-just wondering, if I c-could visit Kankuro… p-please." She stuttered softly, avoiding his eyes. He pondered her request for a minute. Sakura nearly started crying again, thinking he was going to say no. it of course surprised her when he stepped out of the room to bring her to him.

"I will provide you with the necessary tools to treat his wounds. I will give you ten minutes with him. I meant what I said before. After this, you will not be permitted to see him unless you have behaved well, and I see fit to allow you to visit him, if you misbehave, the only time you will be allowed to see him, is when you are treating his wounds from his torture sessions. If you have any sense, you will not misbehave and that won't have to happen." All the while Sakura was nodding and saying 'yes' or 'I understand' whenever he paused. They finally reached the door.

"I will allow you to be unsupervised. Please don't try anything stupid to make me regret my decision." This time, he spoke with a softer tone, and Sakura looked up at him, to see him regarding her closely, unnamed emotions swirling around in his eyes. Sakura nodded, while thanking him, before rushing into the room.

"Oh Kankuro…" he lay slumped in the chair. To her right was a table, with a bowl of water and cloth, and some stitches. There was a tap in the corner of the room so she could re-fill. She immediately set to work, while counting the seconds; she worked insanely fast, wanting to chat with him. She finished with four minutes sparing. Her work was shoddy, but it was enough.

She looked at him as he lay on the floor, panting and barely conscious. She cupped his cheek and lifted a glass of water to his lips, to help him drink.

"There, this should help. Oh Kankuro, I'm so sorry you got caught up in this, I promise that I'll make sure they don't hurt yo-" she was cut off as Kankuro started gesturing to her. He pointed to himself.

"Not… Important…" He gasped and his eyes widened in pain. "Don't… Do as… They say!" His eyelids started drooping. "Get… out…!" His eyes rolled into the back of his head and his eyes shut. Sakura stared sadly at his still form. I was eerily quiet. She peered closely at him.

He wasn't breathing.

"SASORI! HELP, HE'S STOPPED BREATHING!" she faintly heard the door swing open and someone rush to her side, as she began to act quickly, pumping his chest five times and giving him CPR, then repeating the procedure.

'_Come on Kankuro, please be alright! Don't leave me here, alone with them!'_ Sasori put a hand on her shoulder.

"I can't find a pulse, he's-" His words were cut as she slapped him

"HE'S NOT DEAD!" She shouted at him. He stared at her in shock, as she continued in her attempt to revive him.

'_Come on Kankuro, you're stronger than this I know you can do it, you just have to breathe! Just breathe… just breathe…. JUST BREATHE!'_

**Dun, dun, DUUUUNNN! Will Kankuro live or die? Find out next chapter! Happy New Year everybody, and don't forget to review, because with every review, you unfortunately don' get anything, but it helps inspire me… : )**


	6. Chapter 6

**Back to school, so unfortunately, I won't be able to upload as frequently as I'd like to. Sorry. Anyways here is the next chapter :)**

Sakura sat on her bed, with her legs pulled up to her chest. Her arms were wrapped around them, with her head resting sideways, staring blankly ahead. She had jus managed to revive Kankuro, but he was in a critical condition. Sasori had dragged her out of the room, leaving Deidara to tend to Kankuro, and flung her into her room. She looked up to his face and blanched when she saw a bright red mark stand out against his pale complexion. On the cheek where she had slapped him.

' _Oh fuck…'_

She closed her eyes and shivered as she remembered what he had said.

"_**When I get back, we'll discuss your punishment"**_

She bit her lip, holding back the tears that threatened to spill. It wasn't fair! He had left to go find a medic to heal Kankuro. One half of her hoped he found the medic soon, so that Kankuro would be alright, and she wouldn't be left alone with him…

The other half wanted him to not come back, even if it meant Kankuro dying…

She heaved herself off the bed and walked into her bathroom. Locking the door, she turned the shower on, took her clothing off and climbed in, washing all of Kankuro's blood off her.

'_Maybe he was bluffing. Maybe he was only saying that to scare me. Maybe I'll wake up and find out that it was all a dream…" _She reached for the soap.

"**Yeah. And maybe you'll walk out of the bathroom, and find out you're still in Suna. Get fucking real!" **Her Inner said spitefully. Sakura froze, shaking as she tried to contain the sob that threatened to tear from her throat.

'_Great I'm having a mental breakdown!'_ She ran a hand through her hair and recoiled in disgust. Even through all the water, she could feel the greasiness. She grabbed some shampoo and squirted about half the bottle into her hand, then started to gently massage it into her hair, closing her eyes. Soon she started to scrub at her hair harder and harder, scrunching up her eyes in frustration. Suddenly, she raked her nails against her scalp and her eyes snapped open in shock at her actions.

She felt something trickle down her forehead and realised that it was blood. She felt a stinging at the top of her head as some of the shampoo entered the wound. She quickly washed the shampoo and newly acquired blood out of her hair. She turned the shower of and grabbed a towel. Wrapping I around her body, she stepped into her room, allowing her hair to drip freely.

'_It's official; I'm going mad. I just fucking cut my head open with my nails while washing my hair! There is no hope!"_ she sat down on her bed and buried her head in her hands. After a while of this, she realised that Sasori could return at any minute and she only had a towel on. She moved to the wardrobe in the corner of the room and observed the selection of clothing. It consisted of dresses, shirts, and skirts.

'_Asshole…'_ Sakura settled for a white short sleeved buttoned shirt and a black knee length skirt, noticing that it was the longest skirt in the wardrobe. She sighed unhappily and lay down on her bed, waiting for Sasori to return.

Seconds ticked by. Seconds turned to minutes, and minutes turned to hours. Sakura must have fallen asleep at some point, because she woke up to Sasori standing in her door way, watching her. She shot up off the bed and stood next to it. She felt compelled to say something, but found that she was too scared to.

He watched her for a few moments, before deciding to speak.

"I have found a medic and he has healed Kankuro, who is now in a stable condition, and should be fully healed within the week. Unfortunately the medic recognised Deidara, and had o be disposed of immediately." Sakura gaped in horror.

"What! That's not fair, he was innocent, and you could have just kept him here, like you're doing with me and Kankuro! You didn't have to kill him!" Sasori smirked at her in amusement.

"Now, now Sakura, life isn't fair. I'm not running some sort of hotel here, and I couldn't just let him leave." He tutted sarcastically. Sakura felt her self-restraint snap.

"Shut the fuck up!" Sasori's amusement faded and he looked shocked for a second. Unfortunately the shock was replaced with anger. In a second, he had crossed the distance between him and Sakura, and had pushed her onto the bed, knocking the breath from her. He then proceeded to straddle her, leaning down.

"I have been kind to you so far, Sakura, yet you continually forget the fact that I will not hesitate to hurt you or your friend, if you do not comply with my wishes. Unfortunately your friend isn't in the right conditions to be tortured. You're in a very vulnerable position here Sakura, and you would do well to remember that…" He trailed off as he looked down at Sakura, a finger trailing down her cheek to her neck, placing his hand at the back of the neck. Sakura stared defiantly at him, mouthing two words:

'_**Fuck you…'**_

Sasori's eyes hardened and he jerked her head towards his and their lips met in a bruising and aggressive kiss.

Sakura froze in shock. He was kissing her! How the fuck had that happened? Her mind shut down on her for a moment before she came back to her senses and tried pushing him away. Unfortunately for her, he was to strong. His tongue swept across her lower lip, and she gasped. He took advantage of this and slipped his tongue into her mouth, coaxing her to kiss back. Sakura refused to. Suddenly she felt a hand slide up her thigh, pushing her skirt up, while the other hand started to unbutton her shirt. She realised what he had said:

"_**You're in a very vulnerable position here Sakura…"**_

Sakura froze in horror. He wouldn't, would be? She couldn't move and she heard her Inner screaming at her to do something.

"**PUNCH HIM! BITE HIM! MAKE HIM STOP, SAKURA, DO SOMETHING!"** Her Inner screamed frantically. Sakura wouldn't do anything, because she realised that it would only make things worse. She scrunched up her eyes, trying not to cry, but it was useless. She started shaking with surpassed sobs.

Sasori noticed this and pulled away. Seeing her tears made him realise what he was doing. He continued to stare at her when she spoke.

"Please… s-stop." She whispered brokenly

His eyes softened at this before he wiped all emotion from his face. He stood up and walked out the room, shutting it behind him, leaving her on the bed crying.

Sakura rolled onto her side and pulled her legs to her chest. Curling into herself, she stared sobbing.

'_Oh God, Naruto… Gaara, please find me. Please help me…"_

In Suna

Gaara sat at the head of the table, his thumb and forefinger pinching the bridge of his nose, in frustration. Naruto was seated next to him and kept fidgeting in agitation. He knew that his friend just wanted to start the meeting so they could confirm the rescue mission, but Tsunade had yet to arrive. He leant towards his friend and whispered into his ears.

"Naruto, I know you're worried, but can you please refrain from moving around so much? It's quite distracting and is making me nervous." He admitted. Naruto turned his head towards him and smiled apologetically.

"Sorry, Gaara, I can't help it. Granny Tsunade is late; I just want everyone to agree on this rescue mission thingy so we can go get Sakura and Kankuro!" He whispered back. "Plus, she probably brought Kakashi-sensei along with her, and that is why they are so late." Gaara nodded, wondering what could be so important, that they had to be late and delay the meeting.

After ten minutes, Tsunade finally came, with an entourage of shinobi, including Kakashi, was seated and the meeting began.

"Excuse our being late everyone, but it seemed that Kakashi was held up helping a kitten out of a tree." She shot a nasty glare at said Jonin, who smiled sheepishly and muttered something about the kitten being 'too cute to be left in the tree'. Gaara rolled his eyes and looked towards Naruto, who was shaking his head in exasperation. Gaara gathered that this was a regular occurrence. Elder Ebisu cleared his throat, and everyone grew serious once more. He stood up and addressed everyone.

"Lady Hokage, and Lord Kazekage. As you are aware, we are here to discuss the situation concerning Sakura Haruno and Kankuro. They have been captured by two well known and extremely dangerous Missing Nin. Akasuna no Sasori, and Deidara, formerly of Iwagakure. The other and I have come to the possible conclusion that Kankuro may be dead," Gaara closed his eyes briefly. "However, he may be alive, and due to the knowledge he has concerning both the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Sand, we will send out a search party immediately to retrieve him." He faltered momentarily and Naruto spoke up.

"But what about Sakura? We have to get Sakura back!" he shouted, Gaara winced, focusing on the elders, wondering why they had failed to mention Sakura.

Elder Morioka, a tall, slim woman, stood up and elaborated.

"We have yet to decide about Haruno-san, Lord Kazekage, as she is the interest that they have gone to so much trouble to retrieve. Konoha have already lost three of their ANBU. We have come to the conclusion that…" She hesitated.

"That, Haruno-san may have to be left behind, as she poses too much of a threat. If we were to rescue her, they would come back and attempt to take her again, leaving us with casualties and death, which neither village can risk." She finished quickly glancing back and forth between the Kages.

Gaara stared at her in shock. There was a tense silence in the air as everyone took in what she said.

Then… all hell broke loose.

With Sakura

Sakura stared at her reflection in the broken pieces of mirror on the floor. In a small burst of anger she had punched the mirror and now her fist was bleeding. She just wanted to leave.

She stared at the broken pieces, just lying there, on the floor. They were extremely sharp. Sharp enough to make a fatal wound even…

A part of her couldn't belie she would even consider something like that. She found herself picking up a piece and holding it in her right hand. She gripped it so hard; she felt her skin break, and blood sliding down her hand, dripping onto the floor. She raised the piece to her wrist and made slashing motions, smiling in a dream-like state as she did so.

'_I seem to be making myself bleed a lot lately'_ she thought grimly. She giggled at the thought of her blood on the floor and Sasori's face as he walked into the room, to find her lying there. She brought the piece closer to her wrist, pressing it hard against her skin, ready to drag it along…

"**Sakura! What the fuck do you think you're doing? Snap out of it, we're stronger than this!"** Her Inner shouted at her. Sakura gasped, coming back to her senses. She dropped the piece of mirror and watched as it hit the floor, shattering into a million tiny pieces, not wanting to believe what she had just been ready to do.

She sank to her knees in despair, hugging herself and rocking back and forwards, trying and failing once more to stop herself from crying. She raised her hands to her head, and pulled at her head.

'_Oh god, I really am going mad! Naruto, Gaara, I don't care who, just someone, please get me out of here!'_

_Me _

**Hmm… I feel, as though that may have seemed depressing. Don't know what's wrong with me at the moment, but moving on swiftly… Hope you liked. Tell me what you think, what you liked, what you didn't like, what could be improved etcetera, etcetera… Reviews are what make the world go round (apart from money and love) Thank you for reading : )**


	7. Chapter 7

**The seventh Chapter of Revenge! Please enjoy : )**

Sakura sat on her bed with her legs pulled up to her chest, her arms wrapped around them, staring blankly at the wall. She wasn't depressed… well not entirely. She was just really hungry. It had been hours since the incident with Sasori, not that she wanted to think about it. A few hours after he had left, Sakura had realised that she hadn't eaten anything in ages. Her stomach had started grumbling and she couldn't get comfortable. What had pissed her off the most was that she had been trying to think of an escape plan, and her thoughts had kept straying to food!

"**Man, I'm hungry! I don't give a shit what Sasori just did, if he brings me some damn food, all will be forgiven!"** Her Inner stated angrily. Sakura smirked slightly, knowing that all wouldn't have been forgiven, but people had been known to say and do dumb shit when they are desperate, in her case, for food. She sighed and laid back, her thoughts once more going in the direction of food. She stared up at the ceiling, attempting to ignore the pleas for food her stomach seemed to be making, and closed her eyes. She had been starting to drift off to sleep, when a knock on the door made her jump.

"Hello? Is it alright if I come in, un?" A hesitant voice asked. She nodded, then slapped her forehead when she realised that they couldn't see her, and called out 'Come in'. The door opened, to reveal Deidara, with a tray of food. Sakura couldn't help but smile at this.

"Finally, I thought you were going to let me starve!" She exclaimed happily. Deidara widened his eyes in surprise at her tone, before smiling at her softly. This threw Sakura slightly, who stared at him discreetly while retrieving the tray. Obviously, it wasn't discreet enough, as he dropped his smile and averted his gaze. She started to grow worried when he started fidgeting.

"Umm, Sakura, un? It's just that…" He broke off, taking a deep breath and then continued. "Well earlier, Sasori-danna went to your room and didn't come back for a while, and when he did, he was really pissed off at something, and then he locked himself in his room. He only came out half an hour ago and told me to make you some food. I've never seen him so angry at something, and I was wondering if you could tell me what happened?" He spoke this really fast, only slowing down as he asked the question. Sakura tensed, and put her tray down, turning to Deidara.

"He nearly raped me." She whispered. If the situation hadn't been so serious, Sakura would've laughed, as Deidara's jaw, literally dropped. She watched as his mouth went from hung open in shock, to opening and closing like a fish out of water. He went from shock to anger, to confusion until he finally settled on sympathy.

"Holy shit, un, Sakura, I'm so sorry-" She held up a hand to cut him off, smiling sadly at him

"Don't apologize for that prick, he can do that himself. Besides, it's not like it was your fault he decided to… do that." She finished lamely. He shook his head, but otherwise didn't say anything else. She sat down on her bed and continued eating. Deidara stood there awkwardly, for a few minutes, waiting until she had finished eating. She set down the tray when she had finished, and looked at him questioningly. He gulped.

"I was just wondering… if I could stay with you for a bit, un? I mean, no-one should be alone after a traumatic experience like that, and Sasori is being an asshole, plus I don't think that sand shinobi will want to talk with me after what I've done to him and I'm feeling really lonely, what with no-one to talk to…" he was rambling now and this time Sakura did giggle. He abruptly stopped, looking extremely embarrassed. Sakura smiled at him, and patted a seat on the bed next to her, inviting him over. He looked like a child who had been told that Christmas had come early, as he smiled and jumped onto the bed. Sakura laughed at his actions, as he once again looked extremely embarrassed and tried to compose himself.

"That lonely, huh?" she asked, smirking as he smiled sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Well, yeah. I'm only 20; you can't expect me to sit in my room, staring at a wall, regretting every wrong choice I made, that's what old people do, un!" A look of disgust came over his face at this, and Sakura laughed lightly. He looked pleased with himself a being able to make her laugh. The smile slowly left her face and Deidara watched as she silently battled with herself. Finally she turned to him, biting her lip.

"I'll understand if you don't want to, or you can't answer, but I've been wondering for a while now… do you know why Sasori wants me, or what he wants me for?" she looked anxiously at him, hoping that he would tell her. Deidara frowned, pondering this. He closed his eyes and sighed sadly.

"I'm sorry Sakura, I honestly don't know, un." She looked down in disappointment as he said this. "My guess was he wanted to get revenge on you for killing him, but now…" He trailed off; Sakura looked at him, silently imploring him to continue.

"My guess is he wants you, un. Like, just you. Maybe he's lonely. Maybe he wants to fuck with your mind. Maybe he's just a sick fuck!" he spat the last part out hatefully. Sakura drew back sharply in surprise at his sudden anger. He breathed out slowly and smile apologetically at her.

"I'm sorry, un. I just really hate men who force themselves onto women." Sakura nodded her head, still weary of him. He noticed this and heaved himself off of the bed. He picked up the tray and moved towards the door. It was at this point that Sakura realised he was leaving.

"Deidara, wait!" He turned slightly towards her. "Do you think yo could come back, with some more food, and talk some more?" He smiled and nodded his head. He left the room, where Sakura sat on her bed, smiling to herself.

With Gaara

It was chaos and Gaara was seething. How dare they suggest that they leave Sakura behind! Did they have a fucking death wish or something? Tsunade and Naruto were thinking the same thing, except they were voicing their opinions.

"WHO THE FUCK DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? WE WILL NOT LEAVE SAURA WITH THOSE MEN, NO WAY IN HELL!" Naruto shouted beside him, pointing at the elder who had made he suggestion. Said person was trembling with fear at this, but had refused to sit down.

"HOW DARE YOU SUGGEST THAT I LEAVE MY PRIZED STUDENT IN THE HANDS OF TWO WELL KNOWN AND HIGHLY DANGEROUS MISSING-NIN! ARE YOU ALL GROWING SENILE IN YOUR OLD AGE? I WON'T HAVE IT!" Tsunade was standing and waving her fists at the same person as Naruto, while Kakashi stood to the side of her, trying to remain calm but shaking with fury, his fists clenched. Some of the Suna shinobi were shouting at the Hokage, insulting her for being rude and defending the elder. The Konoha shinobi where shouting at them, threatening them for speaking with such disrespect to the Hokage. Some of the Elders were shaking their heads in disagreement, while others were nodding their head and shouting about how it was 'for the best', to which more Konoha shinobi shouted at them for being idiots.

Gaara sighed angrily, tired with all this misconduct. He beckoned at Temari, who was standing somewhere behind him, and turned to look at her. She caught his gaze and nodded in understanding. She brought out her fan, opened it and waved it, releasing a gust of wind that sent those standing, toppling forwards or backwards into their seats or to the floor, leaving them winded and unable to speak. He took this opportunity to voice his own opinions.

"Now now, is this any way to behave ourselves when discussing such a serious matter?" some had the decency to hang their heads in shame at their behaviour. " Elder Morioka, while I see the logic in your decision-" he was cut off by cries of outrage. Holding up his hand to silence them, he continued. "While I see the logic in your decision, what you said earlier, contradicts this." He fought back a smirk as he saw her flush in anger and embarrassment.

"You said that we need to retrieve my brother, as he holds very important information, concerning this village, am I correct?" He continued without waiting for her to confirm this, as he steadily grew angrier. "Then I fail to see the logic in leaving Sakura Haruno behind, when as the apprentice of Lady Tsunade herself, she holds important information and secrets concerning both villages. Not to mention she is an extremely skilled medic, shinobi that we are running dangerously low on at the moment!" Elder Morioka looked shocked at this, and sunk into her seat, ashamed that she had not thought of this.

Gaara nodded and sat down, trying to ignore the amazed stares that he was receiving. Naruto had turned to look at him, mouth slightly open from the shock of seeing his usually stoic friend lose it. He shook himself and smiled at him mouthing 'thank you', a smile that Gaara returned briefly, before returning to the task at hand. Many people sat or stood there, still in shock, so it remained quiet for a bit, something that Gaara was extremely grateful for.

Tsunade was next to recover. She cleared her throat and stood up, causing everyone to focus on her. "Perhaps I'm a little biased, as Sakura is my student and a shinobi of my village, but I agree with what Gaara has said. Now all that remain is for everyone to vote on whether we send a rescue squad out to retrieve them. Now, all in favour of sending out a rescue squad?" The majority of the shinobi and elders raised their hands, including Elder Morioka. Naruto's hand shot up so fast, his fingers nearly went up Gaara's nose, who shot him a nasty look while raising his own hand.

"All those in favour of leaving Sakura and Kankuro with the missing-nin, please raise your hands?" Gaara smirked as the remaining eight, five of which were Suna elders, raised their hands, grumbling under their breath. He glared at them and they bowed their heads, staring at the table. Kakashi clapped his hands together happily

"Well now that that is sorted out, I suggest we all have a good night's sleep and restore our energy, seeing as though some of us will be setting out on an extremely dangerous mission, and the probability is that most of us will die!" Everyone turned to stare at him. Gaara had a sneaking suspicion that Kakashi was insane. Said person looked confused at everyone's faces and merely replied:

"What?"

Gaara heard Naruto groan quietly next to him and bring his hand to his face.

"Baka Kakashi-sensei, no tact what so ever!" he muttered. Gaara fought the urge to snort. Like Naruto could chat about no tact! He stood up, along with the Hokage and dismissed everyone. He left quickly to avoid anyone who wanted to speak with him. He sighed and looked up to the sky, observing the stars.

'_I hope you're alright, Sakura. Just hang in there a little bit longer; we're coming to get you.'_

With Sakura

"I guess I was always a bit outspoken really, I mean now when I look back at myself, I seemed like a complete asshole, and completely oblivious to my surroundings. I nearly blew myself up when Itachi insulted me! But hey, no-one's perfect, un." Sakura was giggling as Deidara spoke about his self.

He had returned as promise, with a load of snacks for both of them. They had sat down and for the past hour and a half, they had been chatting about anything they could think of; what it was like growing up where they did, friends, family. Deidara had started talking about himself as a person, and Sakura found, to her surprise and dismay, that she was beginning to really like him.

"What about your hair? I swear from a distance you could pass as a girl. One of my friends has a hair style like that. I'm just curious as to why you wear it so long!" Sakura grinned as he blushed lightly at this. He unconsciously raised a hand to his hair, fingering it as he spoke.

"I don't know, un. I've always had it long, and I guess it would seem weird to cut it off. Don't you think I'd look weird with short hair?" Sakura sniggered at a mental image of Deidara with short hair. "What about you, why do have your hair so short, I bet you'd look really nice with long hair. She smiled sadly as memories came hurtling back.

"I used to have it long. But I kind of was forced to cut it. During my firs Chuunin exam, when I was 13, my team mates were unconscious from a fight and I had to look after them. Another team came for us and tried to get to one of my team mates. I tried to fight them off, but they used my hair against me. They grabbed it and forced me into a kneeling position and went for my team mates. I couldn't get out and I couldn't reach round to cut them, so I used one of my kunai to cut my hair and get free. I was going to grow it out again, but I kept it short as a reminder" Deidara smiled at her and she returned the smile.

"Out of curiosity, why did you have your hair long in the first place? Did your parents want it long or was it the fashion at the time or something…" she smirked, with a hint of anger. Deidara noticed this and grew weary.

"I only had my hair long because I heard that this boy I had a crush on supposedly liked girls with long hair. I neglected my training, to make sure that I always looked my best for him, and all he ever did was either ignore me or tell me I was annoying." She growled, just thinking about it, and Deidara edged away slowly.

"He abandoned our village. I had a feeling he was going to do this, so I stopped him and pleaded with him to stay. I even confessed my love to the prick! And what did he do? He fucking said thank you, knocked me out and left me on a stone bench where I lay all night!" she threw her hands up in the air in anger, causing Deidara to jump. "I mean, for god's sake! I'm lucky I didn't die from pneumonia or something like that." Deidara nodded solemnly.

"Yeah, any dirty old perv could've walked by and taken advantage on you! A 13 year old girl passed out on a bench in the middle of the night, that's like an invitation, un!" he stated seriously, Sakura looked at him weirdly, before bursting out into laughter. Deidara tried to keep his serious face, and failed, laughing with Sakura.

"Holy shit, I never even thought of that!" she wiped at her eyes, breathing deeply. Deidara giggled,

"Oh Sakura, how naïve you are, un!" They continued to laugh for a minute before relaxing and leaning against the bed.

Suddenly, Deidara stood up abruptly, a worried look on his face. Sakura tensed and turned to see what he was looking at, and saw Sasori leaning in the door way, a bored look on his face.

"Are you quite finished?" he asked. Deidara looked at her, as if trying to let her know that she was safe. She nodded at him, and he turned back to face Sasori.

"Sasori-danna, un. Do you need something?" Sasori smirked and pushed himself from the doorway.

"As a matter of fact, I need you." Sakura saw Deidara tense slightly, and was confused at his actions. "Well I need to speak with you. Now come along, I'm sure our guest is tired. Good night my dear." He bowed mockingly and she glared at him, watching as they left, Sasori looked at her for a moment, his eyes shining with anger, and… regret? He closed the door before she could get a chance to look properly.

She rose up from the bed and tip-toed towards the door, listening to their hurried whispers getting further away. She eased the door open slightly; in time to see them disappear around a corner. She crept quickly to the corner and pressed herself against the wall, barely breathing. Slowly, she peeked around and listened in on their conversation.

"I told you to bring her something to eat, not to sit and have tea and biscuits with her, for God's sake!" Sasori exclaimed angrily.

"What, un! She's being forced to stay here. She's our prisoner, never mind our guest. He least I can do is make her _stay_ here as comfortable as possible, especially as she is worried because she doesn't know what you want with her. Neither do I for that matter, un!" Deidara hissed at him angrily. Sasori's eyes narrowed.

"I don't appreciate the tone you are using with me, Deidara." Sasori warned him. Sakura felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end at his tone. Deidara, however, didn't seem to notice.

"So what, un? I don't give a shit! Why don-" He was cut off as Sasori pushed him up against the wall. He pressed himself up against Deidara. Sakura's mouth fell open in shock. She heard Deidara gulp loudly.

"What's this, Deidara, nothing more to say? That's unusual. Now, how about we give your mouth something useful to do, shall we?" He smirked darkly… and then kissed him

Sakura barely managed to stop herself from falling backwards and shrieking in shock. Her mind was whirring from this and Inner Sakura was shrieking so loudly, Sakura was surprised the other two hadn't heard.

"**Oh… My… God! I knew it, Deidara's gay and he has the hots for Sasori! Oh it makes so much more sense now…"** As she said this, new pieces of information where slamming into her mind. Deidara's behaviour around her and how he acted when Sasori was around. She focused on them again and found herself blushing deeply. Seeing them two kissing so passionately was… well it was hot! Sasori broke the kiss and ran a finger down Deidara's flushed cheek.

"Now wasn't that much better than you running your mouth off, isn't it?" He pulled away from Deidara and walked off down the hallway and into a room. Deidara stood there for a moment, composing himself. Finally, he pulled himself off the wall and walked down the hall… and Straight into Sasori's room.

Sakura was left standing alone in the hallway, thinking one thing.

'_What. The. FUCK!'_

**So… what did you think? I don't have, much free time, so updates may not happen for a while, but when they do, the chapters will be interesting (I hope). Please review and tell me what you did or didn't like about this chapter. Thanks for reading : )**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thanking you for all your lovely reviews! Here is chapter eight!**

Sakura laid spread out in her bead, her mind reeling from what she had witnessed last night. She turned onto her side, frustrated at herself for not realising it before.

"**It was pretty obvious, now that we think about it. How could we have been so blind?"** Sakura's Inner was berating herself for not realising it sooner. Sakura was worried for Deidara. Sasori was obviously manipulating Deidara's attraction to him, to fulfil his own needs. Sakura growled angrily, pissed that Sasori would stoop so low. She hoped that Deidara would come back soon, although she had no idea what she was supposed to say.

'_Hey Deidara! So I saw you and Sasori kissing last night, and I would just like you to know that I think he's manipulating your feelings for him to work in his favour!'_ Yeah, that would go down well! She huffed and sat up, pulling her ridiculously short night gown down. She cursed Sasori for his choice of clothing. The perverted prick got her short skirts and tight tops, and her nightwear consisted of nightgowns that were extremely short! Her brow furrowed as she got up and went through her wardrobe, trying to find something that wouldn't be too revealing. When she failed, she settled on wearing yesterday's clothes, which she hoped she didn't have to resort to. She hated wearing the same articles of clothing two days in a row.

After she had got dressed, she went rifling through her room, trying to find something entertaining to do. She found some books; some were medical journals, while others were fantasy/romance/adventure novels. She sighed, picked up the stack of medical journals and headed over to her bed to read. She had to admit the first one was decent, and the second one was better, but the rest, she had already read. In a small tantrum, she threw all the books at the wall and flumped face first onto the bed.

Hours passed and no-one entered the door. She was hoping to see Kankuro, but considering Sasori's behaviour the previous day, she knew that her hoping was futile. _'Maybe Deidara put Sasori in a good mood! He might allow us to go see him!'_ Her hopes were once again lifted as she thought of this.

She was beginning to get hungry, when the door knocked. She called out 'Enter' and the door opened to reveal Deidara with a tray of food. She sat up and smiled as he approached.

"Deidara! I'm so glad you came, I was so bored with no-one to talk to!" he set down the tray on her bed silently. Her smile faltered and a worried look came upon her face.

"Deidara, are you okay?" when he didn't respond, she began to grow agitated. "Hello? Earth to Deidara!" she clapped loudly in front of his face and he jumped, looking surprised. He looked at Sakura, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Oh Sakura! I'm sorry; I was off in my own little world there! Anyways, here is your food." He sat down next to her, and she searched his eyes for any other hidden emotion. He started fidgeting a bit when she wouldn't look away.

"Um, Sakura? I know I'm good-looking and all, but can you stop staring, it's kinda weirding me out!" Sakura laughed and punched him on the shoulder.

"Please, don't flatter yourself! I was just making sure you were alright… I hope Sasori didn't lay into you too hard for staying with me." He waved a hand in dismissal on the subject.

"Nah, don't worry about it! He came round in the end, plus I managed to convince him to let me visit you! I told him that you would be bored, and if he wanted you to be more 'obedient' then he should let me visit you, to keep you happy!" He looked proud at his accomplishment and Sakura couldn't help but smile softly at his expression.

"**Yeah, he probably fucked Sasori to get him to agree to that!"** This wiped the smile off Sakura's face, and she cursed her Inner's loud mouth. Deidara noticed her change in demeanour.

"Hey, you look kinda upset, what's the matter." She mentally panicked, and grasped for a quick problem inside her mind.

"I'm just pissed that Sasori has only given me skirts and that sort of shit for my wardrobe. I mean, for God's sake, this was the most modest thing I could find in the entire wardrobe!" She gestured to her knee length flowing black skirt and white half sleeved button up blouse, which the buttons stopped three-quarters of the way up, showing a decent amount of cleavage.

Deidara frowned, observing her, then got up and opened her wardrobe. He searched through it, occasionally pulling out a few items of clothing to get a better look of them, after five minutes of this, he walked back over to her, and with a serious look on his face he said:

"I don't see the problem." Sakura's jaw dropped.

"They're all skirts and revealing tops! I don't like that kinda stuff!" She insisted. He shrugged and sat next to her, with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Tell you what, if you try on some of those, I'll pic out some outfits for you, then I'll go to my room and grab a few of my trousers and tops. Deal?" he held out his hand. She regarded it silently, before shaking it reluctantly.

"Deal." He jumped up, a big smile on his face and ran back to the wardrobe, pulling her along with him.

"This is going to be fun!" He exclaimed happily. _'No it isn't."_ She thought miserably. He opened the wardrobe and pulled out a black mini skirt, which stopped mid-thigh, and a neon green crop top. He handed them to her and turned around so she could get changed. She glared at the offending items, and quickly changed. She cleared her throat to alert Deidara that she had finished. Said person turned around, and admired his handiwork.

"Nice, I can imagine your hair in a high ponytail, it would look awesome! Now to outfit number two!" And so they carried on, trying on at least all the clothes in her wardrobe. She lost count at outfit number 12, and that had been 10 minutes ago! Deidara had taken to fixing up her hair at to go with an outfit he particularly liked. When they had finally finished, she slumped face down onto the bed, exhausted.

"I'll be back in a minute; I'm just going to grab some of my clothes for you." He left before Sakura could say anything, so she just lay there. Eventually heard footsteps coming closer, and felt someone sitting down on the edge of her bed. Thinking it was Deidara she spoke.

"Well you took your time, you prick!" her voice was muffled from her duvet and she heard 'Deidara' chuckle.

"Oh, you were expecting me?" An amused voice said. Sakura shot up into a kneeling position, scooting away from Sasori, who was sitting with his legs crossed **(the men's way)**, leaning against a wall, watching her.

"I didn't realize it was you." She said, keeping her voice calm, when on the inside, she was panicking from being so close to him. He sighed tiredly.

"Not to worry, I wasn't intending on visiting you today, but our other guest isn't co-operating, and he keeps requesting you, so I concluded that the only way to shut him up is to bring you to him. Besides, I suppose I should've brought you to visit him earlier, to make up for my inappropriate actions yesterday." Sakura figured this was his way of saying sorry. She nodded her head and stood up, waiting for him to take the lead.

Deidara walked into the room with a bundle of clothes in his arms. He stopped when he saw Sasori and Sakura standing together.

"What's going on?" He asked suspiciously. Sasori raised an eyebrow at his tone.

"I'm taking Sakura to visit the sand boy. She'll be back within 20-30 minutes. What's with all the clothing?" He gestured to the pile in Deidara's arms. Before he could answer, however, Sakura spoke up.

"Me and Deidara were bored, do we decided to play 'dress-up'." She said quickly, afraid that he might get angry that she wouldn't wear the clothes he got her. His other eyebrow joined his raised one.

"Playing dress-up? How old are you, five?" He asked incredulously. Deidara mumbled 'at heart' and Sasori ignored him.

"Moving on, we should get going. You will have half an hour to talk to him, and I expect you convince him to behave, otherwise I will be on your head." He warned Sakura, who shivered, remembering her 'punishment'. They walked out and she briefly caught Deidara's gaze, who looked worried. She sent what she hoped was a reassuring gaze, and left the room following Sasori.

They walked on silence, until they came to the room where Kankuro was being kept. Sasori turned to give Sakura a warning look.

"As I said before, you will have half an hour to talk to him. He is being kept bound to a chair. I expect you to make him behave and I do not want him released from his bounds, or the consequences will be severe." Sakura nodded in understanding and opened the door.

"SAKURA! Thank God you're alive!"

With Gaara

The plans had been made, and the squad would be sent out tomorrow. Although this meant that Sakura and his brother would be rescued and returned, he was pissed that he couldn't go. The team consisted of Temari, Kakashi, Matsuri and Baki (who had come, or were already there), Shikamaru, Ino and Kiba and Akamaru (who would be joining them tomorrow). There were at least five others from both Konoha and Suna that Gaara did not know the name of.

Tsunade and he had wanted to go, but they had to stay. He would stay and continue with his duties, and Tsunade would return to Konoha to continue with her duties as well. As much as Gaara had seen the logic in this, he still hadn't accepted it. At least he had taken it gracefully. Tsunade on the other hand, had thrown a tantrum, destroying furniture. It had taken twenty minutes to calm her down, with promises that Sakura would be returned to her in pristine condition and all the sake she could ever want.

Gaara sat down on his couch, with some ice-cream. Ready to indulge, he growled when a knock on the door interrupted it. He pulled open his front door.

"WHAT?"

It was Naruto standing there, with a shocked look on his face. He replaced this with a smile, a hand behind his head.

"Hey Gaara, I thought that you could use some company, you know, seeing as though neither of us can go with the others to get Sakura…" Gaara's angry expression softened as he remembered what had happened earlier.

_They had been seated around the table, discussing who would be going on the rescue mission. They had already decided that Gaara and Tsunade wouldn't be able to go, due to obvious reasons. Gaara stood up, schooling his features to remain impassive, when on the inside, he was seething at the decision._

"_Who will be willing to go this mission?" He addressed the entire room. All was silent until Temari stood up._

"_I am." Gaara sent her an alarmed look. He had probably lost his brother; he did not want to risk losing his sister as well. She ignored him and stood to the side, away from the others. As she did this others followed suit. One by one (in this order) Kakashi, Baki and Matsuri stood up and joined Temari. A few other shinobi stood up and joined them aswel. Tsunade cleared her throat to gain everyone's attention._

"_I have received word from Konoha concerning this mission. Shikamaru Nara, Ino Yamanaka, Kiba Inuzuka and his partner Akamaru, have all volunteered to go on this mission." With saying this she sat back in her chair, intent on not saying another word, still pissed off. Gaara nodded and stood up._

"_If that is everyone, then-" He was cut off by Naruto._

"_Hold on a second! You didn't let me have the chance to volunteer!" he moved to stood up when Tsunade slammed her hands down onto the table, making it crack from the force._

"_ABSOLUTELY NOT!" She wasn't the only one had shouted. Kakashi, Baki and half the village elders had shouted similar things at the same time. Naruto looked taken aback. As had Gaara._

"_Why the hell not?" Naruto asked, beginning to grow angry. Elder Morioka had answered._

"_Unfortunately, you cannot be allowed on this mission. Being a Jinchuuriki, you become a wanted target to others. Seeing as though we are dealing with two notorious ex-Akatsuki members, the risk is too great to allow you to go. We have already some to one of many conclusions that Sakura may be being held hostage as bait for you, seeing as though you are rather close." Naruto grew enraged._

"_But you have to let me go! Sakura is my best friend and my teammate, I can't not go, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't go?" Elder Morioka looked at a loss for words, so Tsunade stepped in._

"_Naruto, you're not going and that's final, do you understand?" Naruto face twisted into a snarl._

"_FINE! FUCK YOU ALL!" And with that, he had walked out the room. Gaara stared after him, shocked at his outburst. Tsunade stared after him, with regret shining in her eyes._

Gaara came back to reality, and moved aside to let Naruto in. said person smiled happily and entered.

"So, I got Tsunade to allow me to stay here and wait for the others, seeing as though I can't go with them. What are you doing right now? Gaara gestured to his couch and the ice-cream.

"Eating ice-cream." He stated bluntly. Naruto stared at him.

"Is that it? I thought you'd be doing something much more interesting!" Gaara sighed tiredly.

"It was how Sakura and I spent our evenings, while she was here." Naruto's expression softened and he smiled.

"You really like her, don't you?" Gaara looked up at him.

"Yes, and I have to hope that she is alive, and is keeping my brother alive also." Naruto nodded.

"Sakura wouldn't let anyone take her out like that, and she would do what she could to protect Kankuro. We just have to have faith that she will be alright." Gaara nodded in agreement, and sat down on the sofa. Naruto pulled an armchair over and sat down across him, a serious look on his face.

"Tell me Gaara… How do you feel about sharing that ice-cream with me? And please tell me there's a decent Ramen stand here in Suna." Gaara gave his friend an apologetic look.

"I don't mind sharing my ice-cream with you Naruto, and… there is no Ramen stand in Suna." He winced, waiting.

Silence…then.

"WHAT!"

With Sakura

"Oh my God, Kankuro! I'm so glad you're alright!" Sakura rushed forward and hugged Kankuro as best as she could, considering he was tied up in a chair. He had a few cuts and bruises on his face, some old, and some fresh. She frowned at this, and cursed Sasori for sealing her chakra.

"How are you? Have they been treating you all right! What the hell is going on? Why are they keeping us here?" She chuckled quietly at his onslaught of questions.

"Kankuro, calm down! I'm fine. They've been treating me like I'm some guest in a five star hotel." Kankuro looked relieved at this.

"Thank God! Gaara would never forgive me if anything happened to you. Not that I've been very useful…" He gestured with his head at his bound state.

"If anything, it's me who is keeping anything from happening to you…" she trailed off with a bitter smile upon her face. Kankuro's eyes widened.

"What do you mean?" she sighed.

"Well… Sasori told me that, if I 'misbehave', not only will I be punished, but you will too. It's sort of his way of keeping me behaved." Kankuro nodded.

"I wondered why they were going so easy on me." She nodded and kneeled down next to him.

"Sakura, could you perhaps untie me?" Sakura shook her head sadly.

"I wish I could, but Sasori said no. when I said my actions depend on whether or not you get tortured, it happens the same way. If you don't comply with their wishes, for example they want you to be quiet and you shout loudly hours, I get punished." She closed her eyes, unconsciously pulling her skirt down slightly. Kankuro noticed this.

"Sakura, when you say punished… What exactly has he done to you?" Sakura looked up at him, tears in her eyes.

"Sasori nearly raped me."

"…" A look of pure rage came over his face.

"That-That BASTARD! When I get my hands on him, I'm gonna fucking kill him!" Sakura looked alarmed, and scared.

"No! Don't say that, he's waiting outside and he might hear you. Please be quiet!" She pleaded with him. He calmed down slightly, not wanting to be the cause of her pain again.

"Why did he even let you in to see me anyways?" she let out a relieved breath when she realised he had calmed down.

"Well, you were annoying him. He said you wouldn't shut up. So he brought me to talk to you; to get you to 'co-operate', otherwise, he said 'the consequences will be severe'." They both shivered.

"What about the blonde one? Deidara, is it? Has he done anything to you?" Sakura let out a small laugh.

"No, he's gay!" Kankuro looked shocked, so she continued. "He's a total sweetheart if anything, he's lending me some of his clothes, so I don't have to wear the shit that Sasori got for me, and he got Sasori to allow him to visit me during the day, so I don't get bored, and as a way of keeping me 'sweet'." She smirked. Kankuro still looked shocked.

"How sis you figure out he was gay?" He asked. Sakura looked embarrassed and smiled sheepishly.

"Last night, I followed him and Sasori from my room, because I thought he was going to get into trouble for talking to me, and I saw Sasori kiss him, and then they went into Sasori's room…" She trailed off, blushing, and Kankuro nodded in understanding.

"Ah. I guess we know why Sasori allowed Deidara to talk to you then!" He wiggled his eyebrow suggestively, and Sakura snorted in laughter, catching on.

"EW, Kankuro! You have one dirty mind!" He laughed in agreement. Their laughter was cut short, as the door opened to reveal Sasori and Deidara sanding there.

"Well, your time is up. Sakura, if you could please go with Deidara back to your room, I have to talk with our 'other guest'." Sakura stood up, outraged.

"We still have ten minutes left!" Sasori looked uninterested.

"It's getting late, and I think you should rest. Now leave before I get angry." Sakura turned to Kankuro, and quietly said:

"Please, don't lose your temper and say something stupid!" He nodded and she left the room, Deidara closing the door behind her.

"I'm sorry about him, he has really short patience." She nodded.

"Don't apologize; it's not your fault. And hanks for the clothes by the way." He smiled easily.

"Don't mention it." The reached her room, and sat down on the bed, Deidara trying to convince Sakura to wear one of the outfits he had picked out for her. Five minutes later, Sasori returned.

"That was a quick chat." Deidara said and Sasori nodded.

"No much to 'chat' about really, now come on Deidara, I'm sure that Sakura is tired." Deidara muttered a 'goodnight' to Sakura and got up quickly to leave the room. Sasori bowed, staring at Sakura with an intensity that made her squirm uncomfortably. He smirked at this and shut the door. She got up and crept to the door, pressing her ear against the door to listen.

"Deidara, would you go to the kitchen and fetch some wine. I do believe we were in the middle of something before we were interrupted by the sand boy, and you know how impatient I get when I am kept waiting." Sasori whispered suggestively. She heard the hurried footsteps of Deidara heading off. It was silent for a second, before Sasori kicked her door.

She fell back, startled, and scurried over to her bed, jumping in as she listened to Sasori's deep chuckles, alerting her to the fact that he knew she had been listening, which she concluded, probably meant he knew she had seen them kissing the night before. She blushed deeply and pulled the covers over her head.

"**Busted!"**

**And there we have it; the eighth chapter! Hope you enjoyed, and thank you for your reviews! Please tell me what you liked, disliked and what could be improved : )**


	9. Chapter 9

**Sorry, it's gonna be a while. So, the up key on my laptop is broken, which means it keeps going 'up' when I type, messing up al the words. In my frustration, I punched it... now it's completely fucked. Anyways, here is the next chapter, and am I supposed to add a disclaimer in every chapter?**

Sakura sighed in boredom, lying on her bed. Three days had passed and nothing had happened. Deidara came, they talked and ate, Sasori took her to visit Kankuro, they talked, then he brought her back to her room where she wet to sleep and continued her routine the next day. Except for today. Deidara had come in with food, as usual then he had told her that he was going on a mission, and wouldn't be back for at least two days.

Sakura started pacing. Deidara had left an hour ago. She was tempted to go find Sasori and ask for some form of entertainment, but was cautious, in case she got lost looking for him and he got pissed off. She huffed in frustration. She stormed over to the door and yanked it open, and someone hit her on the head.

"Ow! What the fu-" she winced, clutching her forehead. She glanced up and saw Sasori standing there with his arm raised and fist clenched as if ready to knock on the door. He had a look of surprise upon his face, which then started to form into a smirk. She rubbed her head.

"**Well… talk about timing!"** Her inner exclaimed unhelpfully. Sakura scowled quietly as Sasori folded his arms.

"Well, aren't you going to invite me in?" Sakura glared at him and stepped aside to allow him in. he stepped slowly into her room and sat down on her bed. She looked at him for a moment.

"Was there something you wanted, or did you just come here to sit on my bed in silence?" he looked at her, feigning a look of innocence.

"Honestly, my dear" She winced as he said 'my dear'. "I only thought that seeing as though Deidara isn't here, you could use some company. You're not to visit Kankuro until this evening, and we wouldn't want to disrupt your, ah… schedule." He smirked as she flushed. He knew damn well that she had nothing to do. He lay down on the bed, resting his arms behind his head, which was turned to face her, a smirk still adorning his face.

"Well, you wouldn't have to take the time to come visit me if you gave me some decent books or something like that…" She trailed off lamely. Sasori shrugged.

"Do you like to draw?" He asked suddenly. She stared at him for a second, taken aback.

"I guess… why?" He contemplated this for a second before answering.

"Well if you want, I could buy you some paints and a drawing pad, allow your artistic side to come through. Deidara's quite big on the whole artist thing, not that he can call himself an artist with those clay lumps he calls 'art'." Sakura folded her arms and huffed.

"I happen to like those 'clay lumps'. I especially love when they explode. Fleeting, was the word Deidara used to describe it. I think it's perfect… true art." Now it was her turn to smirk as he glared at her.

"That traitorous brat." He mumbled underneath his breath. She found herself smiling slightly at the normal conversation they seemed to be having. Sasori had been watching her and she noticed something flash in his eyes. He sat up quickly before she could determine what she had seen.

"It's settled then, I will send Deidara a message and get him to pick up a drawing pad, some paints and equipment." He nodded as if confirming what he had said.

"Thank you…" Sakura whispered. Sasori nodded to let her know that he had heard her. They stayed in silence for a while, Sakura watching Sasori, and Sasori seemingly contemplating something. After a while, he turned to face Sakura.

"Actually, I came to make a deal with you. Nothing too demanding though, so don't panic." Sakura regarded him quietly, waiting for him to continue.

"I decided to allow you some time outside. I thought that seeing you and our other guest have been so co-operative, that I could allow you to do something other than stay inside and visit… him." Sakura stared at him, disbelieving.

"What's the catch?" She said slowly.

"There is no catch. I will allow you outside for a set amount of time, and you won't try to attack me or attempt to run away. Do we have a deal?" She nodded, dumbfounded at his leniency. He stood up, walked over to her and held out his arm.

"If you wish, we could go outside now." She took a hold of his arm and let him lead her outside. They walked for five minutes. Sakura learnt that she was upstairs, which meant that they were in a house somewhere, and not some basement lair, like Orochimaru had been. They finally reached a door. Sakura felt her heart beating fast with anticipation, and then blushed slightly, feeling silly for getting excited about going outside.

Sasori opened the door. Sakura stepped outside, and closed her eyes, letting the wind whip through her hair. She smiled wryly, feeling like a character out of a sappy love movie. She opened her eyes and gasped at the beauty of it. It was a huge garden, almost like a field, that seemed to shine in the sun. Green grass that came up to her ankles, with an assortment of beautiful flowers. There were some trees with more flowers and fruit. She caught sight of one of the trees and bolted towards it. She heard Sasori cry out in indignation behind her, but she was too happy to care. She reached the tree and started to climb it. She broke off a branch and smelled the flowers.

She jumped back down, clutching the branch to her chest, a smile still on her face. Sasori was standing beside her, and angry look on his face.

"What was that for?" His voice was quiet and Sakura shivered.

"I-I'm sorry. I… I just wanted some of the flowers." She held up the branch of flowers, which turned out to be apple blossoms. "They're my favourite." She whispered. Sasori's expression softened, and he looked at her.

"At least give me some warning when you decide to run off for some flowers next time, so I don't get the wrong idea." Sakura let out a relieved breath.

"**Whoa… that was close!"** Her inner internally flopped down onto the imaginary floor in her mind. Sakura slowly sat down underneath the tree. Taking in her moment of freedom. She heard Sasori shift as he sat down next to her. He cleared his throat and she turned to look at him.

"Out of curiosity, what do you and Deidara talk about? He spends hours in that room with you. What could you possibly talk about that you haven't already!" Sakura smiled at this.

"Anything and everything, really. About friends that we have and had. Latest fashions, favourite colours, art… the list goes on." Sasori nodded. Sakura yawned and lay down in the grass. Sasori joined her. Propping his elbow up to rest his head in his hand.

"And does Deidara know that you know of him being… gay." Sakura shook her head. She suddenly remembered what she had been thinking a few days prior and turned to frown at him.

"What do you feel for Deidara?" Sasori shrugged.

"I don't know. I'm still new to these emotions. It's all a bit confusing really. When I look at Deidara, I feel something weird. It's the same feeling I get when I look at you. Is that bad?" Sakura sighed sadly.

"For Deidara it is."

With Gaara

Gaara sighed, looking out the window in his office. The team had left two days ago. And there was nothing. Of course they wouldn't have found them so soon, but he had hoped to receive a message on whether or not they had a trail. His sister was on that mission, and he didn't want to lose her.

Naruto was worse. He wouldn't stop fidgeting and he was smiling less and less. He had started having nightmares and Gaara had run into his room when he had heard him screaming.

"_NO! SAKURA, RUN!" Gaara shot up in his bed, wondering if the shout had been a part of his dream. He could have sworn he heard Sakura's name. He shivered as the cold air hit him, and he realised he had left a window open. He got up and shut it, deciding he had been dreaming after all._

"_SAKURA!" No, he hadn't been dreaming after all, it had been Naruto. He could hear his friend crying out and dashed out of the room._

"_Sakura! Where are you?" Gaara burst into the room, to see his friend writhing around on his bed. He darted over__ to restrain him,_

"_NO! I'M SORRY!" He lashed out at Gaara thinking he was a hallucination._

"_I'm sorry, it's my entire fault. I couldn't protect you! I promise I'll get stronger to protect you!" Gaara felt a pain in his chest at seeing his friend in this state._

"_Sshhh, Naruto. It's okay, it wasn't your fault. You did what you could. Slowly, Naruto had stopped moving. He opened his eyes suddenly startling Gaara, and stared at him._

"_But it wasn't enough." He whispered brokenly, tears streaming down his face. Gaara stared at him, mouth slightly open in shock. He could feel tears forming in his eyes at his friends' state._

_He rubbed his eyes, and stayed with Naruto, sitting at the end of his bed, until he had fallen asleep, and after that, not sleeping in case Naruto had another dream._

Naruto himself had taken to wondering around Suna. He had gotten lost a lot, and his trips had ended with being searched for and found by Gaara, who would scold him. Naruto had claimed he was only wondering around because he was trying to find a decent place to eat. Gaara smiled to himself as he knew this was partly the truth. As much as he had tried, apparently his home made Ramen did not live up to Naruto's standard.

This had irked him, so he had shouted at Naruto to piss off and go find somewhere that would, even though he knew that there was no such place in Suna.

Naruto had grabbed at this opportunity, and spent most days 'searching'. Naruto was searching, but he also took those times to think to himself. It was probably what started the nightmares; the belief that it was his fault that Sakura had been re-captured, that he hadn't been strong enough to protect her.

Gaara shivered as he thought of the Uchiha. As silly as it was to even consider Naruto running of to train, he couldn't help it. That was what the Uchiha had done, and look what had happened.

Gaara shook himself out of his thoughts as he heard the door open. He looked around and saw Naruto standing there, a proud smile on his face.

"HA! Take that Gaara, I didn't get lost this time." He grinned to himself. Gaara smiled sarcastically and started clapping slowly.

"Oh, well done Naruto. I suppose the fact that you only left 20 minutes ago doesn't affect that, does it? I'd like to see you do that again tomorrow" He saw Naruto's grin fade, and was re-placed by a scowl.

"Screw you, Gaara!" Gaara chuckled and beckoned to Naruto, who reluctantly came. Gaara took this as an opportunity to tease him some more.

"Oh, so you come when summoned like a puppy, now? How sweet." Naruto flushed and glared at Gaara.

"I'll repeat… Screw you!" Gaara grinned.

"You wanna." Naruto opened his mouth to say something, then closed it again, his eyes widening as the realization of what Gaara had just said hit him. His jaw dropped again and he pointed at Gaara.

"Yo-you… but I… you… and…" Naruto stuttered and Gaara approached him slowly, enjoying this too much.

"What, Naruto. Surely you saw that coming?" Naruto paled slightly as he realised that Gaara had gotten closer.

"But I thought you… and Sakura…" Gaara grin widened as he realised that Naruto had gotten the wrong idea. He raised his hand and cupped Naruto cheek, leaning towards him.

"Me and Sakura… what?" Naruto let out the most girlish shriek and fled from the room, leaving Gaara to try and contain his laughter.

'_Well, that should allow me at least a day of peace."_ He sat back down, enjoying his brief moment of peace, and let his thoughts drift towards Sakura and his brother.

With Sakura

Sakura was back in her room. Sasori had allowed her half an hour outside. She took that time to gather some of the flowers in the garden. When she was finished, Sasori led her back inside the rather large house. They had stopped off in the kitchen, where Sasori had grabbed a vase. He now sat on her bed, watching her arrange the flowers she had picked.

The arrangement consisted mainly of apple blossoms, with some cherry blossoms, carnations (pink and purple) with some valerian, hemlock and thoroughwort. She stepped back to admire her work. She heard Sasori approached, and looked to see that he too was admiring her work.

"Not bad." He admitted after a while. "You have some talent with flower arrangement." She smiled at his compliment.

"I have a friend whose family owned a flower shop, she and I used to do flower arranging when we were younger. She taught me how to." She bowed her head in sadness as she thought of Ino. Sasori noticed her change in demeanour and changed the subject.

"So, I assume that this will be the first thing you will draw when you receive your drawing pad?" Sakura lifted her head and shrugged.

"If Deidara returns before the flowers wilt." Sasori snorted.

"Then I believe you will have to create another arrangement. Deidara is unfortunately slow when on missions, especially the really important ones." Sakura felt the corners of her lips tug upward into a small smile.

She moved to sit down on the bed, and was joined by Sasori. She just stared at him. He looked at her, unnerved.

"What are you staring at?" he asked, annoyed. She averted her gaze, blushing as she realised what she had been doing.

"I just wanted to now why you're being so nice to me." To be honest, she was, and she was afraid of the answer. She was afraid that he would spring something on her. He looked away as she said this.

"I'm being so nice to you… because I wanted to apologize for the way I… acted a few days ago." Sakura flinched as she immediately knew what he was talking about. He shifted, still not looking at her.

"Being human… all these emotions… I haven't felt for so long. Everything I feel, seems twice as strong as I remember. I don't think I was dead, more like asleep. When I… came back, all I could think of was you. Every time I closed my eyes, your face was all I saw. And the emotions! It was unbearable. I took you because I had hoped that the feeling would go away. If anything, it's made it worse." He smirked without humour.

"That day, when I was talking with you… I can't explain it. I tried to remain calm, but all the emotions I had been holding back, they just came spilling through. When I saw how scared you were… it felt like my heart was being torn from my chest." He gripped the fabric of his clothes, over where his heart was

Sakura watched him, as a pained expression came over his face. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him. He looked at her inquiringly.

"Can you explain what that feeling was?" she looked at him blankly, nodding slightly.

"It was guilt. That pain in your chest was guilt." He contemplated this for a minute.

"Does… Does everyone feel this?"

"Only those who have a heart." He still looked confused.

"What does that mean though?" She smiled softly at him. Sasori looked shocked.

"It means that you aren't the cold and evil prick I thought you were." He nodded slowly.

"And this is… good?" Sakura's smile widened slightly.

"Yes, it is good." He nodded and leaned back to rest against the wall. Sakura regarded him. She hoped that she could use this in her favour. If she played this right, she could get Sasori to give Kankuro more freedom, and then, with a few more trips outside, she and Kankuro could escape.

She leaned back on the wall next to Sasori. They stayed like that for a while, before she felt a sudden weight on her. She turned her head to see Sasori had fallen asleep. She was surprised, seeing him so… vulnerable, and peaceful. If she wanted to… she could kill him.

She gasped at this thought. Before she could stop herself, tears welled up in her eyes, and spilled over. She squeezed her eyes shut, trying to hold back sobs. She couldn't believe that she was doing this. She was a ninja! She should've already killed him and gotten Kankuro, yet she sat here, crying like a child. She felt pathetic.

She felt a hand on her cheek, a finger brushing away her tears; she looked to see Sasori's hand. He looked at her, eyes drooping.

"If anyone should be crying, it should be me. If my presence upsets you so much, I can leave…" Sakura shook her head quickly.

"It's not that, I just feel pathetic right now." Sasori looked confused, which was quite comical, combined with his sleepy state.

"Don't be ridiculous my dear. You are anything but pathetic. If anything, I admire your strength. Physical and emotional." Sakura gave him a watery smile and raised her hands to her face to wipe away her tears.

"I'm sorry. You can go back to sleep if you like, you look tired." He yawned and laid his head on her shoulders. As soon as his breathing had evened out, the tears came back full force. All she did was sit there, staring at the ceiling.

She stayed like that for a few hours. She looked towards a window and saw that the light was starting to dim, indicating the sunset. She shook Sasori to wake him. He groaned and shifted, causing his head to fall from her shoulders and onto her lap. He shot back up, eyes wide open, and looked at her.

"Ever get that feeling when you're asleep, and you're falling…" She smiled and nodded.

"Why did you wake me up?" she pointed to the window. His eyes widened even further as he realised the time.

"How long was I asleep for?" She shrugged.

"A few hours, more or less." He nodded and stood up to stretch. Sakura couldn't help but admire his body. She looked away, not wanting to be caught. He moved towards the door, but stopped before he opened it.

"Do you wish to visit Kankuro tonight?" She shook her head.

"No thank you. I'm not feeling up for it. Please tell him I'm sorry and I will see him tomorrow." He nodded and exited. Sakura lay on her bed, not bothering to change out of her clothes.

So, she had partly found out why Sasori had taken her. She said partly because she knew there was something he wasn't telling her. She would have to figure that out at a later date. For now, she would focus on getting Kankuro some freedom.

**How was it? Did you like? I felt I went out of character, and some parts were a bit shitty, but it's up to you. Please tell me if it was alright, and thank you for taking the time to read it : ) **


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10! Enjoy : )**

This was it. Sakura stared at her wall with a determined look on her face. This was the day she would be escaping. She had been planning none stop since the day Sasori had taken her out in the garden. It had been four days since then, and she had taken numerous visits to the garden, and had successfully memorised the unnecessarily long journey. Sasori would only take her out once a day so she had sweet talked Deidara into taking her, claiming she had just wanted to gather some more flowers to draw.

She glanced over to the sketchbook Deidara had gotten her, and started to flip through it to pass the time. She had nearly filled up half the book. On each page were different flower arrangements, single flowers, or random objects in her room. Deidara and Sasori had approved of her drawings, one being nicer than the other. Deidara claimed that she was a brilliant artist, while Sasori had merely said 'It appears you have… some talent.'

It was the evening, and she was waiting for Sasori to come and get her to bring her to visit Kankuro. He always allowed them some time alone together, which this time she intended to take advantage of. She had picked a pair of short shorts to wear, alongside a jumper, which she decided would be the most easiest to move in out of the selection of clothes in her wardrobe. Luckily, her shorts had big pockets, and right at the bottom, was a shard of glass from the mirror she had broken a week or two ago.

She had kept it, in case she decided that she no longer had the will to live and needed something to end her life. She had forgotten about it, until yesterday when she was mulling over how she would free Kankuro. She reached into her pocket and gripped it for reassurance, but not to hard, lest she cut herself.

Eventually, she heard footsteps and the door knocked. She stood up and Sasori entered.

"Are you ready?" She nodded and exited the room, following Sasori. She was sure that she had this route memorised as well, but focused solely on how many turns they were making, just in case. Sasori noticed concentration.

"You are strangely quiet today? Something on your mind?" She shot him a sideways glance, and decided to guilt trip him.

"Oh, nothing really, I just miss my friends, is all." She sighed sadly, watching him out of the corner of her eyes. His expression didn't change.

"Well, they obviously can't be missing you as much as you miss them, or they would have tried to find you by now." Sakura stopped in her tracks as Sasori carried on.

"**What a prick!"**Her inner shouted angrily. Agreeing with her Inner, she shook her head and ran to catch up with Sasori, refraining from saying something that would potentially piss him off.

They finally reached the room where Kankuro was being held. The usual was said; she would have half an hour, make sure to not try any funny business. Sakura schooled her expression to remain blank as he said this, knowing that the slightest hint of emotion could give away her plans. He finally allowed her in the room, closing the door slowly. When the door had finally shut, Sakura sprinted over to Kankuro, kneeling besides him.

"Wow, you've never been this eager to see me before. Have I done something good?" Sakura smiled at this.

"As if you'd ever be capable of doing something good!" She teased. At his cry of mock outrage, she shushed him hastily, a worried look coming over her face. Kankuro's expression turned serious.

"What is it?" he asked. Sakura looked back at the door, as if worried that Sasori would come barging in. When she was sure that he wouldn't, she turned back to Kankuro and started explaining.

"We're busting out of here tonight. Sasori has been surprisingly lenient with me lately, and has taken me out to visit the garden. I've been here and to the garden enough times to memorize the routes. The garden is quite wide, but at the end is a fence, and behind the fence is a forest. I figured we can escape to there an figure out the rest later." Kankuro was staring at her, shocked. She was waiting for an answer when she remembered something so important; she slapped herself for not thinking about it before.

"Shit!" Kankuro jumped at her sudden outburst. She clapped her hands to her mouth and glanced at the door. She mouthed 'Sorry' to Kankuro before continuing.

"Has he sealed your chakra?" Kankuro stared at her, shaking his head. Sakura breathed a sigh of relief.

"Thank god, that will make things so much easier." Kankuro was still staring at her, making her uncomfortable.

"What?" Kankuro grinned at her.

"Nothing, it's just that the decision to leave was so sudden. I'm starting too really like this place." Sakura smirked at his sense of humour.

"You know, sarcasm is the lowest form of wit." Kankuro snorted.

"Come now Sakura, how long have you known me? I'm lower than low. Now hurry up and get me out of this chair!" She pulled the glass from her pocket and began to cut through the rope. She finished within the minute. She altered the ropes to look as if the were still tied and motioned for him to stay there. Glancing around the room, she nodded in satisfaction and headed for the door.

"Sasori? Kankuro and I are really thirsty, could you get us some water please." She looked up, praying that she wasn't obvious. Sasori was silent for a minute.

"Isn't there any in there already?"

"No." it was silent for a few moments more, when she finally heard a sigh of resignation.

"Fine, but I'll be gone for two minutes. If you try anything, you will both pay!" Sakura cringed at the warning, and waited for the footsteps to recede. She turned to Kankuro, a smile on her face.

"Well, you heard him. We have two minutes." Kankuro jumped up and they ran out the door. They continued running as lightly as they could. They reached her room in a minute, and she pulled him in, shutting the door behind them. They rested against the door, panting. She held her hand up for silence, and listened for footsteps. She heard them and tensed, terrified that they would get caught. When the footsteps disappeared, she grabbed Kankuro's wrist and pulled him out the door, sprinting for the stairs.

They ran down the stairs, taking two at a time. She kicked the back door open and ran outside. They jumped over the fence and carried on running, not even daring to look back. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins. She smiled as the full realization of her freedom hit her. Kankuro stopped and the smile vanished.

"What the fuck are you doing? We have to keep going before he catches up to us!" he held up a finger, trying to catch his breath.

"Climb on… my back. We'll… travel faster." Sakura nodded and jumped on his back. He stumbled a bit; finally regaining his balance, and took off, much faster than before. After a few more minutes of travelling, the adrenaline wore off, and Sakura realised how tired she actually was. Forcing herself to stay awake, she started talking.

"Where do you think we are?" Kankuro shrugged as best as he could with her on his back.

"No clue. We could be anywhere. We can only hope that we come out of this forest soon, and reach a town so we can find out. Sasori's words from earlier played on her mind.

Do you think anyone is out looking for us?" she asked quietly.

"Of course!" Kankuro answered without hesitation. "Knowing my brother and the Hokage, they would've already sent out search parties to look for us!" Sakura smiled at his enthusiasm.

"How far do you think we are away from that house?" Kankuro contemplated this for a while.

"I'd say we've put about 5-7 miles between us and the house. I estimate that we probably won't see another house, let alone town, for…"

He trailed off as the trees separated to show a small civilian town. They stared at it for a while, completely in shock.

"Wow. I haven't seen civilization in so long, I nearly forgot it existed. Kankuro shook his head.

"We'll need food, and unfortunately I don't have any money on me, and I doubt you have any, so…" Sakura's eyes widened. They were going to have to steal off the market stalls. She already felt guilty.

"Let's be quick… five minutes then we get some directions and high tail it outta here." They set off, gathering as much food as they could, which considering their lessons in stealth, helped them to get quite a lot of food. Kankuro took a bag so they could keep the food somewhere instead of having to carry it. They ran to the other end of the town, and found someone to ask.

"Excuse me sir, do you know where this is?" they looked at them for a moment, before answering.

"You are in the village of Gurasufirudo, in the land of Earth." He said giving them a strange look.

"Do you know which way the land of fire is?" He pointed in a direction.

"South-East." Sakura bowed thanking him. She put on the bag with the food and climbed back on Kankuro's back, and took off.

With Gaara

Gaara was in a relatively good mood. He had just received a message from Kakashi saying that they had found three possible trails leading to where Sakura and Kankuro might be. They had split up into three groups, and evidence suggested that it was most likely that they were in the Land of Earth.

Gaara had just shared this information with Naruto, who was currently jumping up and down on his Sofa in joy.

"YES! We are closer to finding Sakura and your creepy brother! YES!" Gaara smiled at Naruto's behaviour, and nearly joined him. _Nearly_.

"Naruto, please refrain from jumping on my furniture before you break something." Naruto stopped jumping and sat down on the sofa, smiling sheepishly and rubbing the back of his head.

"Sorry Gaara, I'm just so relieved to hear that. If they are right, Sakura and Kankuro could be returned to us in a week, or even less!" Gaara had to admit that his enthusiasm was contagious, as he felt his smile growing wider, threatening to become a grin. If all went to plan, and Kakashi was right, then they would be returning soon.

"We'll just have to wait and see, Naruto." Said person wasn't deterred, and jumped up from his seat.

"We should go out and celebrate! This is the first good news we've had in ages! Please Gaara, let's go out to eat." Gaara sighed and went to get his coat and wallet.

"YAY!" Naruto shouted and ran to get his coat. As surprising as it was to some, obviously in the daytime, it was baking in the desert, but as the sun went down, as did the temperature, and Gaara new from personal experience that it could get really damn cold at night.

"Where should we go, Gaara? I haven't really paid attention to the food places in Suna, and I haven't really tried much of your food, so I wouldn't really have any idea where to go, so it would probably be best if you decided, but then again I am your guest…" Gaara tuned out Naruto and his ramblings. Sighing in annoyance, they wandered around for a few minutes, before coming across a sushi bar. He figured that Naruto would have at least tried Sushi before, and if he didn't like it, well tough.

Luckily, he did, so they sat down and started picking randomly at dishes

"So Gaara," Naruto started a cheeky grin on his face. One that made Gaara slightly worried. "When Sakura comes back, how much are you gonna tell her that you love her?" Gaara set down his chopsticks, and looked at Naruto with a serious face.

"Why would I tell Sakura I love her, when you clearly know of my feelings for you?" He smirked as Naruto paled, taking him seriously.

"Whoa Gaara. I've told you already, I don't swing that way!" Gaara let out an over dramatic sigh.

"Oh Naruto, your words wound me." Naruto looked so awkward, Gaara couldn't help but snort.

"Calm down, I was joking." Naruto visibly relaxed at this. Gaara picked up his chopsticks, and the continued eating in silence. At some point, Naruto stopped eating, and stared at the table, as if concentrating. Eventually, he looked up at Gaara.

"What if… What if something goes wrong, and we don't get Sakura or Kankuro back? What if one of our friends gets hurt or killed? What then?" Gaara thought about this.

"All the Shinobi that left realised that they might lose their lives on this mission. I know that they will do their best to retrieve Sakura and my brother, and if they should fail, we'll know it wasn't their fault. There are many risks and possibilities of failure, but the best that _we_ can do is to stay positive and hope that everything will turn out as planned." Naruto nodded and stood up, stretching as he did so.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm tired. Let's head back." Gaara nodded in agreement. They paid the bill and headed back to his house. On the way, they noticed a hawk flying overhead, circling them, before heading of to the Kazekage tower. The glanced at each other and sped off, following it.

They reached the tower in two minutes and scaled the stairs in record timing. They reached the top where a jounin was about to come down the stairs to deliver the letter. He jumped in surprise upon seeing them, but quickly regained his composure, bowing to Gaara and handing over the letter. Gaara thanked him and opened it to read, with Naruto peaking from over his shoulders.

_Kazekage-sama_

_We have just entered a village on the borders of the Land of Earth. We have researched the arrivals and departures of that past week, and records show a man entered the village four days ago, and left three days ago. The description matches that of one Missing-nin, Deidara. We have discovered that he headed west after gathering some supplies. We have managed to pick up a scent and are now following it. If possible, send word to the other two teams, alerting them of the findings. They were last headed in the direction of the Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning._

_Kakashi._

Gaara blinked and re-read the letter. Then he read it again. He couldn't believe their luck. The missing-nin must be getting sloppy if he left trails like that. He looked at Naruto, whose eyes were shining with tears, a wide grin on his face.

"Can you believe their luck?" He whispered. Gaara nodded in silent agreement. They exited the tower, letter still in Gaara's hand and finally reached his house. They made their way into their respective rooms, still dazed from the happiness the letter had provided for them. Gaara settled down on his bed, not bothering to change, and curled up underneath the sheets.

'_Less than a __week and I'll be able to see you again, Sakura. Less than a week.'_

With Sakura and Kankuro

"Fuck its cold!" Sakura clung to Kankuro a little tighter, trying to stay warm. They had left the small village 3 hours ago and it was pitch black. She estimated it to be around two in the morning. She new that they should stop and rest but, they were both too scared to risk a little break in case Sasori and Deidara caught up with them. She hoped they had put a decent amount of miles between them. She felt Kankuro starting to tremble.

"Kankuro, maybe we should stop for a bit. You need to rest and eat, otherwise you'll exhaust yourself, and then we won't be able to defend ourselves." Kankuro shook his head.

"Just… give me the food… I'll eat… while I'm travelling." He panted. Her Medic side kicked in and she was about to order him to stop.

"Don't… bother… just give me the food." She bit her lip and carefully pulled the bag off her shoulders and opened it. She pulled out bread and a bottle of water for him, and an apple for her. She handed them to him over his shoulders.

"There, that should last you for an hour and a half." He nodded in thanks and began eating, as did she. Suddenly he stopped. Sakura froze and started to panic, thinking he had sensed Sasori.

"Do you sense those chakras?" he whispered as if not believing it. She focused and sensed four chakras heading their way. One especially stuck out to her.

"Kakashi-sensei! Oh my God, they found us!" she cried out in happiness.

"Yes, it's a pity all they are going to find is his dead body." They both tensed at the new voice. Sakura didn't dare turn around. Gripping onto Kankuro as tight as she could without cutting off his circulation, she whispered as quietly as she could.

"_Run!"_ Not needing to be told twice, Kankuro took off. Unfortunately, Sasori was closer than expected and had reached out a hand and gripped Sakura's hair, pulling her backwards. She screamed in pain, alerting Kankuro, who turned around to help her.

"GO GET THE OTHERS, AND HURRY!" She screamed at him. He looked pained, but followed her instructions nether the less. Sasori yanked her hair so the she was forced to turn her head and look at him. She cringed at the look of pure rage upon his face.

"No funny business, I said." He flung her on the floor. She tried to crawl away, but was stopped as he placed a foot on one of her legs.

"I said you would pay if you disobeyed me, so you shall." He stomped down on her leg, breaking it. She screamed loudly at the blinding pain. He knelt down beside her and positioned his finger under her chin, pulling her face towards his.

"This wouldn't have happened, if you'd just listened and obeyed me, like a good girl. But bad girls need to be punished, and so you shall." The last thing she saw before she blacked out was his smirk.

…

Sakura groaned in pain and lifted her head. She blinked, realising that she couldn't see. Her leg and head were throbbing in pain, and she had been tied up. She tried to move, and forced herself to calm down when she realised she couldn't.

"Finally awake, I see." Sakura whipped her head around, trying to find the source of the voice. She heard someone approaching. She felt hands near her eyes, and all of a sudden her vision returned; she had been blindfolded. Sasori moved to stand in front of her, observing her.

"Now, I'm going to untie you, and you mustn't do anything, understand?" she nodded and he proceeded to untie her. As soon as he had finished, she pushed him away, threw the chair at him and made a mad dash for the door. Unfortunately, he was quicker than her. He was beside her in an instant and used a hand to push her back. She stumbled and fell backwards. Straight away, he was on top of her.

"That was your last chance." He whispered menacingly. He pulled out an oddly shaped kunai and bent over her.

"This will hurt." And proceeded to carve into her skin above her collarbone with the kunai. It felt like it was burning. She tried not to scream, but then it felt like the burning had spread to her bloodstream. She let out an ear piercing scream and tried to throw him off her, to no avail. She continued screaming and thrashing, the burning coursing through her body. The burning sensation was replaced by stinging.

"P-PLEASE MAKE IT ST-STOP!" She sobbed desperately. It was all in vain as he continued. Eventually, he stopped, but the pain was still fresh. Sakura couldn't scream anymore, her throat too raw. Sasori stood up, and looked at her lying on the floor, tears streaming down her face. He sighed sadly.

"You brought this upon yourself." He murmured sadly. She scooped her up bridal style and walked for a while. Sakura couldn't concentrate on anything except the pain. She was faintly aware of being set down on a bed and Sasori leaving. Se curled into a fetal position, too drained to make a noise. At some point, the door opened and closed again. She felt the bed dip from where someone lay down next to her. She recognized the chakra belonging to Deidara. She turned around and curled next to him, crying into his chest.

"It hurts so much!" she sobbed quietly. Deidara sighed softly, fighting back tears of his own, while stroking her head in a soothing manner.

"I know."

**WOW… Depressing much? Did you like it? Hope you did : )**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11!**

Sakura awoke, moving an arm to rub her eyes. She drew her arm back, hissing in pain. Something shifted beside her, causing her to jump out of the bed in shock. Her vision blurred and her broken leg screamed in pain. She knelt down, breathing heavily. She looked up and saw blonde.

"Sakura! Are you okay?" she sighed in relief as she realised it was just Deidara. He jumped out of the bed to help her up. She clung to him, legs wobbling.

"Everything hurts… especially here." She motioned to the spot Sasori had attacked with the kunai the night before. He gingerly pulled down her top to inspect any injuries, wincing when she did. Suddenly he froze; face pale and eyes widened in horror. He opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out. Sakura panicked, wondering what it was. Ignoring the pain, she pushed past him and limped as fast as she could into the bathroom, tugging her top down.

"Sakura, wait…" She ignored him as she into the mirror, tears dripping steadily down her face. There was a kanji carved into her chest. The area around it was swollen and bloody, but the wound itself was clean. No blood was spilling from it, nor had it started to scab over or become infected. It reminded her of the kanji on Gaara's forehead, but hers didn't read 'love', it read…

"_Obedience_? What the fuck is that supposed to mean? She whispered brokenly. Deidara steered her away from the bathroom, helping her walk.

"I expect he'll visit later to explain his intentions." He muttered darkly. Sakura sniffed, looking around the room. With a start, she realised they were in the same house as before.

"Why are we still here? Doesn't he realise that Kankuro will lead the others back here!" Deidara opened his mouth to answer but was cut off.

"Well I guess only I can explain that." Sakura closed her eyes. She had been hoping that he wouldn't show up for a few hours. She refused to look at him. The stayed in silence until Sasori grew annoyed.

"Look at me." Sakura gasped as she felt her eyes and head move and suddenly she was staring at him. She tried to look away, but found she couldn't.

"**What the fuck?"**

Sasori smirked slightly, before wiping his face of all emotions.

"What did you do to me?" Sakura asked fearfully. Deidara tightened his grip on her as Sasori 'tsked' impatiently.

"If you stopped talking, I'd be able to explain." She growled quietly as she realised he was patronizing her.

"Now, I'm sure that you've realised what now adorns your neck, or that area. It is the kanji 'obedience'. This is because a jutsu I have created. Basically I carve obedience onto you, and you shall be obedient." He smirked once more as her eyes widened in horror. "As you may have noticed, I have done so with a kunai of a strange design. This is because no ordinary kunai will work. This 'special' kunai contains my chakra. In other words, by carving that kanji, induced with my chakra, you now have to obey my every word." Sakura couldn't believe it. Her clenched fist tightened on Deidara's shirt.

"And what… was the purpose of this?" she asked hesitantly. Sasori regarded her for a minute before continuing.

"Well, I've been listening in on you and that sand boy's conversations for a while, and I noticed that you seemed to talk a lot about the current Kazekage. I realised that you have feelings for him. So what better way to punish you, than targeting him!" Sakura growled and started to advance.

"You stay away from Gaara!" She started. Sasori watched her approach him, waiting until she was a step away from him until he spoke.

"Stop there and don't move." Sakura felt herself freeze, and mentally cursed him.

"My dear, I had no intentions of going anywhere near him. Instead, you are" Sakura's heart sped up at this.

"I currently have your friends under a little jutsu. When I dispel it, after Deidara and I are a safe distance away, they will find you, and I assume they will bring you back to Suna to rest, before heading back to Konoha."

"And then?"

"And then I give you the order to kill the Kazekage. And trust me; you don't have to be able to hear me to receive the order. Everyone will assume you have joined us and you will be forced to flee the village, where we will be waiting for you." Sakura closed her eyes, not wanting him to see that she was crying. She felt a hand on cup her face and opened her eyes to see Sasori staring at her.

"None of this would've happened if you hadn't disobeyed me in the first place." There was no sympathy in his voice. She glared hatefully at him, but he ignored it.

"I'm going to unseal your chakra, to make your task easier, but you mustn't attack me or Deidara, or try to escape, do you understand?" She nodded against her will, and he started making hand signs, to fast for her to see. Eventually, she suddenly felt what seemed like a great weight lifted and could feel the flow of chakra in her body. She closed her eyes, relishing the feeling.

Finally, she turned and limped away, but almost fell in the process. Thankfully, Deidara caught her, he helped her up and started to bring her to the bed, but Sasori stopped them.

"Drop her Deidara and let's leave. The sooner the better in my opinion, I hate waiting." Deidara literally dropped her, and she cried out in pain upon contact with the floor. He turned around, regret shining in his eyes.

"I'm so sorry." As she lay there, she concluded that Deidara must be under the same jutsu as her. Sasori moved aside for him to leave and looked over to where Sakura lay.

"And don't think about telling anyone what I have just said." And with that, he shut the door and left.

She didn't know how long she lay curled up on the floor for. It couldn't have been more than a few hours, but she didn't know. All she knew was pain, physical and emotional. She knew she could heal herself, now that she had her chakra back, but she refused to. She wanted to make herself suffer, for allowing this to happen and for what was to some once she was back in Suna. Tears streamed down her face and she stared blankly ahead, hoping that the others wouldn't find her, and that she would stay there and rot.

Hours, or even days later, she heard rapid footsteps approaching her door. She clenched her eyes shut and curled into herself even more, willing whoever it was to go away and leave her alone.

"Sakura? Oh my God! Shikamaru, Baki, in here, quickly!" Sakura squinted as she recognised the voice.

"Ino?" She heard someone kneel down next to her and roll her over. She then felt a warm sensation that she recognized as healing chakra. She tried to move out of the way.

"No… don't, please…" she protested weakly, too exhausted to even move properly.

"Sshhh, Sakura. It's okay, I'm just healing you. We're going to get you out of here, and you'll be safe." She felt more chakra's enter the room. After what seemed like an eternity, the sensation faded and she was scooped into someone's arms.

"Kakashi-sensei?"

"Hush, Sakura, you're alright." And they left. After the left the Earth Country, Sakura gave up on staying conscious and passed out.

...

"Guys, she's waking up!" Sakura opened her eyes to see who had spoken, and was forced to shut them again to protect her eyes from the blinding light that had invaded her vision. She waited for a few minutes, unnerved by the sudden silence, before she squinted. She was surrounded by people. As her vision returned to normal, she was able to make them out.

"Naruto!" She shot up and jumped on him. They both fell to the floor, and she felt arms wrap around her tightly.

"I'm happy you're alright too Sakura." She sat up, wincing at the pain in her neck. She unconsciously brought a hand to rest over the kanji. Ino, who was also in the room, noticed this.

"Are you still in any pain, Sakura? If you are, I can heal you." Sakura shook her head.

"No, I'm fine. Don't worry." She smiled in what she hoped was a reassuring way.

"Tch, how troublesome. Of course we are going to worry; you've been missing for about two to three weeks! That's nearly a month! And all you say is 'don't worry'…" Sakura smiled softly at Shikamaru. She felt something wet on her cheek and turned to see Akamaru beside her. She giggled, patting him on the head.

"Hey there, boy."

"Don't patronize him; he's as intelligent as a human! He could be one, if it weren't for the fact that he's furry, walks on four legs and barks!" Sakura smirked at the indignant voice of Kiba.

"Yeah, and you _should_ be a dog, if it weren't for the fact that you walk on two legs and can unfortunately speak. Shame how things work out isn't it?" he huffed, smirking as well, and held out a hand. She grasped it and allowed him to pull her up, pulling Naruto up with her.

"Good to have you back, Sakura."

"It's good to be back." She hugged them all, saving Ino for last.

"There are a few things I need to share with you before anyone else. Please, I don't think I'd be able to do it otherwise." She whispered. Ino nodded slightly, hugging her tightly. They pulled apart and held hands. Sakura turned to face Naruto.

"Where's Gaara?"

"He's with Temari and Kankuro. Kankuro's telling him what happened from his point of view. After that, they'll be coming here to talk to you. Kakashi and Baki are filling out a report." Sakura nodded in understanding. Ino clapped her hands to gain everyone's attention.

"Well, in that case, you lot, get out. Me and Sakura need to have a little girl talk before the interrogation starts!" She shoved everyone out, slamming the door shut. She turned to Sakura, arms crossed.

"Okay, spill!"

…

Sakura smiled, rubbing her friend on the back. Ino was currently sobbing her eyes out, after Sakura had told her everything that had happened. She had started crying when she had told her about Sasori almost raping her, and had lost it when she had told her about him carving into her skin.

She herself was shocked that she could even speak about it. This revelation had given her new hope. She realised that even though she couldn't outright tell them Sasori's plans, she could hint at it.

"T-that prick! I-if I ever meet him, I'll fucking kill h-him!" The threat was ruined by her sobs, but Sakura was touched. They were interrupted by a knock on the door. Sakura got up to open in and was greeted by Kakashi.

"Yo. Nice to see you're alright." Sakura hugged him, shaking her head at his behaviour.

"I see you're still the same." She looked over his shoulder as someone coughed and met the teal eyes of Gaara. She pushed Kakashi out of the way and threw herself into his arms.

"I missed you." She whispered. He pulled her closer to him, wrapping his arms securely around her waist.

"I missed you more." Their lips met in a sweet yet desperate kiss. They stayed like that until they heard a snapping sound. They broke apart and saw Temari standing there with a camera, Kakashi and Ino, whose face was still wet from the tears, smirking at their actions. Sakura blushed in embarrassment, while Gaara groaned in annoyance at being disturbed.

"How the hell do you always have a camera on you?" Temari just raised her eyebrows.

"You never know when you're gonna need one!" she answered as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Kakashi had turned to Ino.

"Why are you crying?" Ino blushed lightly and shared a look with Sakura.

"Sakura and I where having a little… chat." Kakashi looked suspicious, so Sakura decided to step in.

"The same chat I'm about to have with you guys." She explained further. Kakashi's eye widened. Had it been that bad?

"Do you feel up to repeating what happened?" Gaara asked softly, grasping Sakura's hand. She smiled and rested her head on his shoulder.

"Yes." She took a deep breath and continued.

"There isn't much to say really. They took me back when I left for Konoha, knocking me out. When I woke up, I was locked up in a room. They left me there for a while, and S-Sasori came to get me. He brought me to a room where Kankuro was being and tortured, and told me that if I didn't do as he said then he would kill him. At that moment Kankuro died." Gaara and Temari's eyes widened in panic and shock.

"I managed to revive him, but I hit Sasori in the process… really hard. He left to get a medic Nin for Kankuro. When he came back, he, uh… punished me for my behaviour…" she started to fidget, and Ino growled.

"The asshole nearly raped you Sakura!" she cried. Something shattered, causing everyone to jump, and Sakura to back to the door. She was stopped by Gaara.

"I'm sorry if I scared you, I lost control of my temper, and my sand went haywire. I'll try to be more in control." He said solemnly, but Sakura could see a glint of pure rage in his eyes. It frightened her. Slowly, she sat back down and continued.

"Anyways, after that, he avoided me for a few days, while Deidara kept me company." She smiled softly. "He was a sweetheart. He was the only reason I didn't kill myself. Him and Kankuro…" she trailed off as she realised what she had just said.

"You thought about killing yourself?" Kakashi said emotionlessly. Sakura nodded, a little uncomfortable with the way everyone was staring at her. She cleared her throat and carried on.

"So, a few days later, he came to apologise, and took me to see Kankuro, so that he would shut up. After that, the routine was the same everyday: I woke up, showered, Deidara came with food and would use me as his personal doll, Sasori would come and take me to visit Kankuro, then he would take me back to my room and I would go to sleep. About a week ago, he took me out to see the garden. At that point I started planning our escape. It wasn't well thought out and extremely risky, but I was desperate." She had decided to leave out the part where Sasori was romantically obsessed with her, considering their reactions so far.

"And after he recaptured you, what happened?" Kakashi pressed on.

"He cut me." She said simply, and pulled down her shirt for them to see. Their reactions were instantaneous: Ino started crying again, Kakashi got up from his chair and punched the wall, cracking it and Temari started describing in full detail what she was going to do if she saw Sasori. Gaara, however, remained seated with his eyes closed. He seemed to be concentrating, which caused Sakura to worry. She edged slowly over to him and placed a hand over his.

"Gaara, are you okay?" she whispered. He shook his head slowly, still not opening his eyes.

"I'm just restraining myself from allowing my sand to go haywire and getting up and hunting him down." She said through gritted teeth. Sakura squeezed his hand, willing him to calm down.

"There's something else…" Everyone stopped and stared at her, apart from Ino, who already knew what was coming.

"This Kanji, obedience, it means something. Literally, I have to do everything Sasori says, which means…" her mouth instantly clamped shut as she tried to start explaining what Sasori wanted her to do. Tears of frustration started to gather, but thankfully, Kakashi was as sharp as ever.

"Which means that he could order you to kill or harm someone and you would have to do it." He noticed Sakura had stopped speaking and added: "And he would have most likely have told you not to repeat it." Sakura allowed the tears to spill as they turned from tears of frustration to tears of joy.

"And he knows about Gaara's and mines close relationship…" she trailed off, leaving them a heavy hint. Gaara was the first to realise.

"This means that he probably ordered you to either kill… or harm me." He whispered. They fell into silence, unsure of what to say next. Ino and Temari walked over to Sakura, each grabbing an arm and helping her to stand up.

"I'm afraid that this means that we will have to restrain you, in case you can't stop yourself." Sakura nodded, smiling at them.

"I understand." They started walking out the room, when she remembered something.

"Wait!" she exclaimed, panicking. She turned to Temari.

"He…" Her mouth clamped shut again, and she growled in frustration. She decided to show them what she meant, and punched a hole through the wall. Temari nodded in understanding.

"We'll have someone seal your chakra again, but only temporarily. We'll send some Shinobi out to scout for them. If he's waiting for you to kill Gaara, then that probably means he'll be lurking around somewhere." Sakura nodded again, feeling as though a heavy weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

"Thank you."

Five Hours Later

"PLEASE! WILL SOMEONE DO SOMETHING? KNOCK ME OUT; I CAN'T TAKE THIS ANYMORE, PLEASE!" Against her will, Sakura was trying to break free of her restraints. She was chained to a wall, to prevent her from attempting to kill Gaara or anyone else. Around three hours ago, Sasori must have given the order, as a small voice in her head had whispered '_kill Gaara_' and she had immediately begun trying to escape. She had tried to fight back, but that had been useless. She had then started shouting for someone to do something to stop her, but no-one came. It angered her that they were ignoring her. She knew there were Shinobi outside, guarding her door.

"WHY WON'T YOU DO SOMETHING?" She screamed at the door. No-one responded and she began crying at how helpless she was. It sickened her. She hated Sasori, and she even found herself hating Deidara, for not warning her of what would happen.

"**Maybe Sasori 'ordered' him not to say anything about it'**" Her Inner provided, trying to lessen the hate directed towards Deidara, but Sakura was beyond seeing reason, all she saw was red. All she could think about, besides freeing herself to kill Gaara, was causing as much pain to Sasori and Deidara as possible without killing them, because killing them would be going easy on them.

…

Eventually, morning came, and Sakura was exhausted from trying to escape. She had cried all night, and now lay in a heap on the floor. She was pissed that no-one had come to help her, but was too drained to do anything about it. She heard the door opening and shifted her eyes towards it. Ino and Gaara stood in the doorway. She tried to glare at them, but found that even that took energy, so instead she settled for staring at them. Ino approached her warily.

"Sakura, how are you feeling?" Ino asked slowly. Sakura looked at her.

"Why didn't you help me?" Her voice was hoarse from crying. "I screamed for hours and you all ignored me." Ino looked close to crying.

"We were told not to go in, in case you attacked one of us." She explained. Sakura just continued staring at her.

"Well next time, knock me out. I don't want to have to live through that again." She closed her eyes, allowing herself to fall asleep, but before that, she felt her restraints being removed, and someone lifting her up.

…

When she next awoke, she was in a bed. She sat up slowly, taking in her surroundings. With a smile, she realised she was in the same bedroom she had been in when she had been staying with Gaara.

"I was wondering when you'd wake up." She looked towards the window to see Gaara standing there, leaning against a wall, looking out.

"You shouldn't be here. How do you know I won't just jump up and attack you?" Gaara just smiled, finally looking at her.

"I figured that you were still following Sasori's orders, then you would have done so already and I could've just stopped you with my sand." Sakura smiled as well, and leaned against the headrest. Gaara pushed himself off the wall and made his way over to her. He sat down on the bed and picked up a glass of water of a table beside the bed, holding it up to her mouth.

"Drink this. From what the guards told me, you spent a good few hours of the night screaming and crying, so I'm guessing your throat must be sore." Sakura brought a hand to her throat, only just noticing the uncomfortable burning sensation in her throat. She sipped on the water, wincing as it went down.

"I'm sorry about what you had to go through last night. It wasn't easy on any of us; it must have been terrible on you. We had to stop Naruto when he heard your shouts. It was killing him that he couldn't help you. It was killing all of us." He said softly. Sakura closed her eyes, resting her forehead on his shoulder.

"It was so strange. Part of my mind and my body were intent on freeing myself and killing you, while the majority of my mind was set on trying to stop. I can't understand why I couldn't stop myself. It was horrible, not being in control of my own body. I don't want to have to experience that gain, I'd rather die!" Gaara took her hand in his and laced their fingers together.

"Don't say that! We have experts investigating this technique he used on you, and Tsunade said that she would be sending Shizune to examine you, to see if she can detect anything… off, about you." Sakura squeezed his hand briefly.

"I'm grateful that you are all doing things to help me, but it angers me that I can't do anything to help myself." Gaara squeezed her hand back.

"Don't be. No-one thinks any little of you for this. They understand, which is why we are all sympathetic to your situation, and why we are doing everything we can to help you." Sakura let go of his hand, bringing her arms up to hug him.

"Thank you." He hugged her back, not saying anything. They stayed like that for a while, until Sakura yawned. Gaara let go of her, lying her down and standing up.

"You're still tired. Get some rest, and I'll be back later." He turned to leave, but Sakura grabbed his arm. He looked at her questioningly.

"Please… can you stay?" He smiled and lay down next to her, wrapping his arms around her.

A few miles outside the village

Sasori was pissed. His plan had failed and he could tell that Deidara was pleased with this outcome, but he would deal with Deidara later. He had hoped that his plan would work, but she had managed to get the message of his intentions across to the others, but no matter, there were always more opportunities. They all know thought that she would be targeting the Kazekage. She had hinted towards it, so he would find a new way to punish her, and the Kyuubi container seemed like the best way to teach her a lesson…

**Taa Daa! Hope you enjoyed. I would have had this up sooner, but the situation with Japan threw me off. It's terrible, and my heart goes out to all the people that have suffered and are still suffering. Please, pray for them and donate as much money as you are allowed/ as you can. They need all the help they can get at the moment…**

**Thank you for reading and please review and what could be improved and/or what was good about it. I personally quite liked this chapter, but am unsure about certain parts, and would love to hear you thoughts on it : )**


	12. Chapter 12

**Revenge ****chapter 12!**

It had been four days since her last attempt on Gaara's life. The orders had stopped and she was deemed safe in the eyes of the others, but they knew to keep their guard up, in case one came at random. She knew that Sasori was pissed that his plan didn't work out, and that he was most likely currently planning something new, but she tried not to think about it.

They were still in Suna, as Gaara and Tsunade had deemed it unsafe to travel with Sasori and Deidara still on the loose. This had made Sakura somewhat sad as she had been feeling extremely homesick, and could not wait to set foot on Konoha grounds. Although she could not leave, she could not deny that she wasn't enjoying her time in Suna. In the past three days, she and Gaara had been on dates. He had returned the necklace he had brought for her, and Temari and Ino were having the time of their lives dressing her up, like they were right now.

She thought back to her little fashion shows with Deidara, and smiled slightly as she thought about him, Temari and Ino meeting. She sighed sadly as she realised that if they ever did meet, it would most likely end in a fight and someone's death. Temari noticed her sudden change in demeanour.

"Hey, what's wrong, Sakura?" Sakura smiled wryly

"I was just thinking about the similarities between you two and Deidara, and how well you would get along, if it weren't for…"

"If… It weren't for the fact that he is an S-Class criminal that we have to kill." Ino finished for her. Sakura chuckled at her bluntness.

"Yeah… that."

It was awkwardly silent for a while, until Temari clapped her hands to gain their attention.

"Well, enough of this depressing stuff, you-" She pointed to Sakura "- Have a hot date with my brother, and we can't have you looking sad, and like crap. Come on, Ino, we've got some work to do!" Sakura laughed as Ino nodded with a determined look on her face. For the next hour and a half, they set about choosing out an outfit for her. They settled on a teal dress, which stopped halfway down her thighs. It was a very form fitting dress that made Sakura feel extremely uncomfortable, but she knew that complaining was pointless as Temari and Ino wouldn't let her out of it once that had settled on the same dress.

"Now, I really like this dress, so please remove it properly if you and Gaara decide you don't want to stay clothed." Ino giggled as Sakura blushed.

"Yeah, yeah, I promise I won't rip it, like I did with your other tops!" She teased. She, well Gaara had, in fact ripped two of her tops while in the process… but were interrupted by Naruto.

"You better not, or I'll hunt you down!" Ino laughed.

"Uh-oh, she means business, Sakura! If I were you, I'd watch out." Sakura rolled her eyes. She put on a matching pair of shoes and walked towards the door.

"I should go; Gaara's probably been waiting for nearly an hour, no thanks to you to!" Temari chuckled while Ino bowed dramatically.

"We're only here to help!" Ino declared. Sakura shook her head, used to her friends' ways, and left the room. She slowly made her way down the stairs, while clutching to the banister, afraid that she would fall. She walked into the living room, careful of where she was stepping, when her head snapped up from hearing a wolf whistle. Gaara was sitting on the sofa, accompanied by Naruto, Kankuro and Kiba, who were all staring at her

"Damn! You look good Sakura!" She heard Kiba shout approvingly. She giggled, blushing, when she heard someone scowling.

"Lay off, mutt. She's mine!" Gaara growled. Kiba held his hands up, and Sakura started laughing. Gaara's eyes roamed her form, and she felt herself growing uncomfortable once again.

"We should go get something to eat, it's getting late." He nodded and moved to get up, but was pulled back down by Naruto.

"You know the rules; she's to be back before twelve. Any later, and I won't permit you to take her out again!" He said sternly. Kiba snorted and Kankuro laughed.

"Who the hell are you, her father? Just shut the hell up and let them leave!" Naruto cried out in outrage, and Gaara took the opportunity to grab her hand and lead her out of the house.

"Where was Shikamaru?" She inquired as soon as they got out of the house. Gaara shrugged.

"Preparing for a date, I think. Is he dating the Yamanaka girl? Ino?" Sakura smiled at this.

"No… she's dating Kiba!" A confused look came over Gaara's face.

"Then who…" Sakura's smile grew wider.

"Temari!" A shocked look came over his face, which was then replaced with a frown.

"He can't date my sister!" He claimed. Sakura raised an eyebrow playfully.

"And why not?"

"He's lazy; he complains too much, he's the complete opposite to Temari!"

"And your point is." He opened his mouth to respond, but closed it again, a confused expression coming over his face again.

"Because he can't!" Sakura laughed at his expression, cupping his cheek with her hand.

"You look so cute like that!" Gaara's eyes widened, but quickly replaced is expression with a smirk. Quick as a flash, he scooped her up, carrying her bridal style. Sakura shrieked and wrapped her arms around his neck, effectively latching onto him. This caused Gaara to laugh.

"Now who's laughing?" Sakura stuck her tongue out.

"I am. You're saving me the trouble of walking." Gaara brought his face closer to hers.

"Fine by me." And with that, their lips met in a kiss.

…

They settled on going to an ice-cream parlour, seeing as though neither of them were that hungry. They had been there for two hours already, mainly her laughing at Gaara being in denial about Shikamaru dating Temari. They decided to walk about for a while. It would mean that they would be back late, but it also meant that Naruto would get pissed and worried, which would be hilarious to view.

After two more hours of walking, they decided to head back. They opened the door, shutting it quietly, trying to sneak upstairs for a little privacy. This proved pointless, as Naruto was literally waiting beside the door for them.

"What… the… FUCK! Where the hell have you been? Do you know how worried I've been? I thought something really bad had happened to you two! What if something had happened, what would you do then? I expected better of you two-" They tried to contain their laughter at Naruto's ramblings. Sakura was shaking her head when a cold sensation came over her.

"_Kill __the Kyuubi container. Kill him now, and don't heal him!"_ A horrified look came over her face.

"No…" Naruto was cut off, and they both looked at her, confused and worried.

"Hey Sakura, are you alright? You look kind of pale…" Before anyone could comprehend what was going on, Sakura had reached into the kunai holster on Naruto's thigh, pulled out a kunai, and had stabbed Naruto in the stomach. Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief as he looked down at the kunai producing from his stomach, then back up at her. Tears spilled from her eyes, as she saw the pain in his eyes.

"Naruto… I'm s-so sorry…" Naruto smiled through the pain.

"I understand." And he collapsed on the floor. Sakura dropped down next to him, cradling his head in her lap, sobbing. Gaara stared in horror at the scene before him, when it dawned on him what had just happened.

"TEMARI! KANKURO! HELP US, QUICKLY!" He bent down and grabbed Sakura, pulling her away from Naruto. She began to struggle, screaming at him to let her go.

"I can't, you might be given another order, and I have to restrain you, just in case!" Sakura knew what he was saying made sense, but that didn't stop her from being unreasonable.

"JUST GET HIM TO A FUCKING HOSPITAL!" She screamed. She felt herself grow limp, ad Gaara struggling to hold her upright. She vaguely noticed the sound of footsteps arriving, someone gasping in shock, and everyone taking action, all the while, her gaze never leaving the still form of her team mate.

…

Sakura lay chained to a bed, unmoving. She had been there all night, crying and waiting. She had stopped crying a while ago, but the dried tear tracks were still on her face. She stared ahead of her, waiting for someone to come and tell her that Naruto was okay. He _was_ okay… she refused to think otherwise.

She heard the door opening and closing, and scrambled to sit up. Gaara stood by the door, bags under his eyes. She figured that he had also been up late last night. They stayed in silence for a minute, until Sakura couldn't take it any more.

"How is Naruto? He's alright… isn't he?" Gaara looked at her blankly for a minute.

"He's stable." Sakura sighed in relief, bringing her hands up to cover her eyes. She could feel herself beginning to cry again. Her shoulders were shaking from suppressed sobs. It was a while until Gaara came to sit beside her. He wrapped an arm around her shoulders, bringing her closer to him.

"It wasn't your fault." He whispered, resting his chin on top of her head.

"Yes… Yes it was." He sighed, not knowing what to say.

"Come." He said after a while. "We should sleep. We've both been up all night, and everyone is going to want to know what happened." He gently pulled her down into a lying position, wrapping his other arm around her. She brought her hands away from her face, and placed them on his chest.

"Thank you… I thought you might hate me for what I did…" She whispered softly. Gaara stoked her hair comfortingly.

"We all understand that it wasn't your fault, now sleep. We're going to need it." She sighed softly. They both closed their eyes, falling asleep instantly.

…

"I'm so sorry, Naruto! I know you say it isn't my fault, but I'm still the one who hurt you!" Sakura had spent the last three hours apologizing to Naruto. She and Gaara had slept ten straight hours, not waking up until the next night. It had then taken an hour for Gaara to convince the others that Sakura was no longer under orders, so that she could visit Naruto. And still she had to be restrained.

She currently had some of Gaara's sand wrapped around her wrist, in case she suddenly tried to attack anyone else. Naruto himself looked pale, but was smiling which was a good sign.

"Please don't blame yourself, Sakura. How many times do I have to tell you that it's all right? See, I'm not dead, so there's nothing to worry about!" Sakura half smiled at Naruto's behaviour, and slowly reached out to hug him. She felt Gaara's sad tighten around her wrist, so she stopped and turned to him to explain.

"It's just a hug." He nodded and the sand loosened. She wrapped her arms around Naruto in a tight hug, which he returned eagerly.

"So… what exactly does this mean? That you've attacked me instead of Gaara?" Sakura pulled away to look him in the eyes.

"It means that he's pissed off. He wants to get back at me through you and most likely the others." Naruto's eyes narrowed at this.

"It also means that I'm not safe to be around. You either have to keep me restrained permanently, until he is killed, or you have to return me to him." Their reactions were instantaneous.

"NO!" They both said. Gaara spoke before Naruto had a chance.

"If you think we are going to let him have you again, so that he can just order you to do anything, you've got another thing coming!" His face was twisted in rage, and Sakura found herself growing scared. His expression softened and he rushed over to her, pulling her into a hug.

"We aren't going to let him win that easily, Sakura." Naruto spoke softly. She found herself growing desperate to make them see sense. She pushed Gaara away, and moved away from both of them.

"Well then what the hell are we supposed to do? Sasori will stop at nothing to get to me. He'll probably order me to kill my friends, and maybe some random Suna and Konoha Shinobi, until you have to kick me out! Don't make me be responsible for hurting my friends, please…" Gaara slowly approached her.

"Don't worry. We'll take the necessary precautions, so that you can have some freedom, and there won't be a risk of you hurting anyone-" Sakura shook her head frantically, backing away slowly towards the door.

"Don't you see? This is just going to be a continuous cycle; he'll give an order, someone will get hurt, you'll all be on edge for a few days, then you'll start to lower your guard around me, and ten, when everyone is all relaxed and happy, I'll receive another order, and someone else will get hurt! The only way to stop this is for me to leave." Gaara's eyes narrowed at this.

"How many times do I have to tell you that we aren't going to let you leave?" Sakura's expression hardened as she gripped the door handle.

"Try and stop me." She yanked the door off of its hinges and flung it at Gaara, who dived out of the way. She took this as a chance to escape, and fled. She grabbed a jar of water, sitting on a side, and poured it over her wrist, watching in satisfaction as the sand crumbled and fell away.

Gaara pushed himself off the floor, staring in shock at the place where Sakura had been standing just moments before. He felt something hit his head and turned to see Naruto struggling to stand, an outraged look on his face.

"DON'T LET HER GET OUT OF THIS VILLAGE!" He screamed at Gaara. This shook Gaara out of his reverie, as he took of in the same direction as Sakura.

Sakura herself had left the village, and was headed for the trees. She had run into Temari and Kakashi, who had tried to ask her about what had happened. Thankfully, she had managed to knock them out, buying her more time. Tears were streaming down her face, and she cursed herself for being so weak. She could see the trees in the distance, and pushed more chakra into her feet. It would mean that she would be out of chakra by the time she reached the forest, but it would also mean that she would reach the forest in five minutes, were Sasori would find her.

She finally reached the trees, but carried on running, minus the chakra to help her. Her breathing was laboured and she prayed that Sasori would find her soon. As expected, he appeared on a branch above her, arms folded as if he had been waiting there for a while.

"I was wondering when you were going to show up." He stated, smirking. She glared at him, opening her mouth to say something, but couldn't. She felt herself falling, but was stopped by a pair of arms. She wished that they belonged to Gaara, but of course they belonged to Sasori. He lifted her up and started to walk away, but stopped when he heard footsteps approaching rapidly. Sakura closed her eyes. Gaara had arrived.

"Put… Her… The fuck… Down!" He panted. Sasori raised an eyebrow at the Kazekage's state.

"Would you like to sit down?" He asked sarcastically. Gaara growled and clenched his fist. Sand shot out from nowhere and headed straight towards Sasori. Sasori jumped out of the way and into a tree.

"Careful now… We wouldn't want Sakura to get hurt now, would we?" He scolded sarcastically, smirking. Sakura mumbled something, and Sasori bent down to hear her better. His smirk intensified and spoke to Gaara.

"Sakura has requested that you leave her alone, and return to your village, where you'll be of more use." Gaara's eyes widened.

"Liar!" He hissed, sand raising menacingly around him. Sasori leaned against the tree, still smirking.

"She said it, not me. Don't shoot, or in your case, don't crush the messenger." They stood there for a while, staring each other down. Suddenly Sasori yawned.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I have other things I need to be attending to, so if I were you, I'd do as Sakura asked, or you might make her upset." He was mocking Gaara, which served to make him angrier. He ordered his sand to rush at Sasori. Said person once again jumped out of the way, to avoid being killed. He set down Sakura in a nearby tree, and jumped down to the ground facing Gaara, eyes narrowed.

"You want to play? Fine, little boy, let's play a game. Winner gets Sakura. Loser pays with his life." He brought out a scroll, summoning puppets. H attached his chakra strings to the puppets and caused them to speed towards Gaara. One of them sped on ahead, bringing out blades, and made to swipe the blades at Gaara's head. Gaara brought up his sand to protect him, and jumped back out of the way. He pushed his sand forward to wrap around the other one. His eyes widened when he saw his sand darken and start to crumble. He pulled back whatever was left and cursed when he saw it wasn't much.

Sasori smirked and sent the same puppet after him again, blades ready to strike. Waiting until the last minute, Gaara jumped out of the way, gasping as he saw the blades just missed his head, and slammed into a tree, effectively destroying it. At close proximity, he noticed that a purple liquid had coated the blades.

'_Poison… Shit! I'll have to be more careful from now on.'_ This continued on for about ten minutes; Gaara was panting, while Sasori just stood a safe distance away, a bored look on his face. Gaara was starting to panic, when he noticed familiar chakra's approaching.

'_Kakashi… Shikamaru… YES!'_ They arrived, standing in front of Gaara protectively. Sasori looked surprised at their sudden entrance, and Gaara took this opportunity to crush the offensive puppet with his remaining sand. The other two brought out weapons. Sasori held his arms up in defeat.

"Very well, take her… I know when I'm outmatched. No matter, I can always come back later…" And with that, he took off into the trees, disappearing.

Gaara rushed towards the branch where Sakura lay. She was lying face down, completely still. She didn't look as though she was breathing, which worried Gaara even more.

"Sakura, can you hear me? He's gone… You're safe again…" He shook her slightly to wake her up, but drew his hand back, frowning. She was limp, but at the same time… she was extremely stiff. He slowly rolled her over, to get a better view of her. As soon as she was facing upright, Gaara's hand dropped.

Miniscule grains of sand began to form in the air around him, colliding with more and more until giant tendrils of sand were waving around him, uprooting and cutting into trees, destroying everything around him. Kakashi and Shikamaru tried calling out to him, but were forced to evacuate when a tendril of sand nearly crushed them. All the while, Gaara was staring blankly at the still form below him…

It was a puppet.

…With Sakura…

Sakura stirred, trying to wake herself up. She finally succeeded, but her eyelids were heavy, making it difficult for her to stay awake. She sat up slowly, trying to take in her surroundings, which proved difficult, considering that the room she was in was very dark. Something shifted to the left, and she whipped her head in that direction, instantly regretting it as black spots danced across her vision.

She lay back down, closing her eyes to try and stop the headache that had come. The bed she was in dipped, as someone lay down next to her. She felt a cool hand cupping her cheek, and unconsciously leant into it. She heard someone chuckling as they used their thumb to caress her cheek slowly.

"I knew you missed me…" Sakura's eyes snapped open, and she looked into the cool brown eyes of the person lying next to her.

"Sasori…" She whispered. Sasori smirked, and lowered his hand until it was on her neck, repeating his motions. He felt Sakura tense underneath him.

"Shh now, my dear. You are tired, and you need to rest, otherwise you won't get better. And we can't have that now, can we?" He spoke as if to a five year old. Sakura tried to move away, but found herself trapped between a wall and Sasori. She tried turning around, but found that she didn't have the energy. Sighing mentally, she gave up. Sasori noticed this, and his smirk grew wider.

"There, now. Isn't it much better when you stop trying to resist? Maybe now you can even enjoy it…" He leant over and captured her lips in a kiss. Sakura didn't even bother trying to fight him off, simply squeezing her eyes shut so that she wouldn't cry.

He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her closer to him to deepen the kiss. She realised what he wanted, and using as much energy as she had, she brought her arms up to wrap them around his neck. She felt him smirk into the kiss, as he rolled her over so that he was on top of her. His tongue swept across her lower lip. Sakura, who wasn't expecting this, opened her mouth in shock, and he slipped his tongue into her mouth. He used his tongue to explore the inside of her mouth, coaxing her to respond. Not wanting to anger him, she did so hesitantly.

She faintly noticed that her body was moving with his, in a way that was reminiscent of when she and Gaara were together…

"**What would he think if he saw us now…"** Her inner whispered from the back of her mind. This brought her back to reality, and she moved her head to the side, ending the kiss. They were both breathing heavily from lack of oxygen. Sasori seemed to read her mind, and leant down so that his lips brushed her ear.

"You left him and the others behind, my dear. It's time to move on and forget about them… it's for the best." He whispered. He kissed her neck, getting off her.

"I have to go sort something out. I'll be back in five minutes." And with that he left. Sakura just closed her eyes, wanting to be asleep before he came back.

…

She awoke in the morning to a considerably brighter room. She noticed that someone was breathing softly down her neck, causing her to shiver. She turned her head, to see Sasori lying behind her, his forehead resting on the back of her head. She became aware of his arms wrapped around her waist. She was about to get away from him when she remembered what he had said the night before.

"_You left him and the others behind, my dear. It's time to move on and forget about them… it's for the best."_

She realised that unfortunately, he was right. She turned around in his embrace, and laid her head on his chest. She noticed, with a light blush adorning her cheeks, that he didn't have a top on. She let out a breath and closed her eyes, trying to get back to sleep.

Sasori kissed her forehead, causing her to jump. She could practically feel his smirk.

"Morning, my dear." He murmured sleepily. Sakura was ready to ignore him, when she thought about it.

'_Might as well try to enjoy it…'_ To his surprise, and pleasure, she snuggled into him.

"Morning to you too." He wrapped his arms around her tightly.

"I see you're cooperating now?" He questioned. She nodded to the best of her ability, considering her position.

"Yes. What you said last night made sense, so I figured that I should enjoy myself."

"Glad to know." Repeating his actions from the night before, he captured her lips in another fierce, yet gentle, kiss, to which she responded immediately.

**OMG! Bad Sakura, you're supposed to stay faithful to Gaara! Wait… I'm the one who writes the story…**

**Joke! No, Sakura will end up with Gaara, but I noticed that I haven't really put much sasosaku in this, so I decided to have some more sasosaku romance! I will have a gaasaku ending and a somewhat sasodei ending, because I don't know whether I should kill off Sasori or not. Let me know what you think! Once again, thanks for reading this, and UNTIL NEXT TIME!**


	13. Chapter 13

**So, as you may have noticed, the ending to my last chapter was interesting you say the least. However, as interesting as it was, I have been absolutely buggered on what to do next. Finally, I have come up with an idea, though I don't know how it will play out. We will just have to read and see…**

**Sorry if the first part is a little angsty, I was kind of feeling depressed, and it turned out my emotions somewhat appeared in my writing… Moving on swiftly!**

**As per usual, I do not own Naruto, because if I did… trust me, you would know.**

Five days. It had only been five days since Sakura had returned to Sasori, yet it had felt like eternity. Admittedly, it had been different then what she had expected. She had expected to be mocked, teased, anything evil that would have been normal for the Sasori she knew, but instead, he had been… weird.

The first day, after she had decided to submit to him, they had laid in the bed for half an hour, until Sasori had left, saying that he had business that needed tending to. Only after he had been gone for ten minutes, did she let the tears she had been holding back flow freely. She felt the guilt and sorrow of leaving her friends and Gaara behind, betraying Gaara by submitting to Sasori. She tried convincing herself that it was better that she had left, that they would all be safer without her there, but failed miserably and succumbed to more tears. The room gradually darkened as the sun set, and Sasori returned to find her lying in the same position he had left her. She climbed into the bed, lying next to her. He hugged her and whispered about how he would help her to forget about her friends, and how se could start a new life with him until she fell asleep.

The second day was no better. He had left before she had woken up. She decided to explore the house in his absence. The house was smaller that the last one, but still big. She wandered around the house, trying to find something to occupy herself with and feeling somewhat lost, as though she had forgotten something. She returned to her room, lying on the bed, and began to wonder if things would return to the way they were; Her sitting alone in her room, bored out of her wits, Sasori's strange and cryptic moments with her, visiting the garden to pick the flowers and arranging them, her and Deidara's fun little chats –

She shot up, eyes wide. How could she have forgotten about Deidara, especially his feelings for Sasori! How could she be such a bitch? She exited the room, opening every door and searching every room for him. Eventually she found him, curled up on a bed in a dark room. Sakura felt a lump rise in her throat, and a sob escaped her mouth, He turned round to stare at her with blank eyes, tears running down his face. She wanted him to scream at her, to hit her, to say that he'd never forgive her and call her a whore, because God knows she deserved it but he did something worse. Instead, he sat up, smiled at her through the tears rapidly streaming down his face and held out his arms.

"_I forgive you._"

Sakura broke down, running into his arms, and hugged him fiercely. He wrapped his arms around her, stroking her hair comfortingly, and laid down.

"_I'm sorry, Deidara, I'm so sorry!_"

"_I know._"

They lay in each others arms, crying until they fell asleep. Sasori returned after midnights. He panicked when he couldn't find Sakura, running around the house to find her. H sighed in relief when he found her asleep with Deidara. He approached her, an arm reached out to wake her, however, stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the tear tracks trailing down her face. He noticed that there were some on Deidara's face as well. Upon seeing this, he felt a twisting sensation in his gut, and his heart seemed to clench painfully, almost as if someone was squeezing it.

_Guilt?_

_Sorrow?_

_And it was his fault?_

He left the room, closing the door softly, so as not to wake the other two.

The third day was relatively better than the first two. She awoke before Deidara had. She smiled softly, seeing him look so peaceful, as opposed to his sobs that had accompanied hers last night. She kissed him on his head and silently left the room. She walked into her, stopping when she saw Sasori lying on her bed, staring at the ceiling. He jumped slightly when she cleared her throat. He stood up and slowly walked towards her. She grew afraid, thinking that he was angry that she had slept with Deidara. Her anger was replaced with surprise when he hugged her, and that was replaced with sorrow, when he whispered two little words into her ear.

"_I'm Sorry._"

Once again, she broke down, except in his arms rather than Deidara. Sasori picked her up and carried her to the bed, lying her down, attempting to soothe her as she cried on him. After a few hours of just lying there, They both got up, and silently left the room, Sasori leaving to finish his 'business' and Sakura heading off to Deidara's room.

The fourth day, Sakura found herself feeling much better. She had spent the day with Deidara, in the kitchens. They had been talking about nothing in particular, when Deidara had suddenly said:

"_I don't know about you, but when I'm upset, I like to eat cookies!_"

Sakura had burst out in laugher at his random exclamation, and Deidara had pouted causing her to laugh some more. After a while, they decided to visit the kitchens in an attempt to find some. They failed, and were a little sad, until Sakura had a brainwave. She said that they should just make cookies instead. They searched the kitchens and found that they had all the ingredients they needed. However it took longer than expected. She had asked Deidara to keep an eye on the time, and to take the cookies out of the oven after 5 – 10 minutes. Deidara forgot, and nearly set the oven on fire. They threw away the charred remains, and started again. This time, Deidara was bringing the flour over to Sakura so she could mix it with all the other necessary ingredients. Unfortunately, he slipped, spilling it all over Sakura, turning her pink hair and clean clothes, white. After kicking the crap out of Deidara for being a clumsy idiot, they tried again, and this time, everything went right. They sat down on a couch, and began to eat their newly made cookies. They were congratulating themselves on a job well done, when they had heard a door slam. They rushed to see what it was, and found a pale Sasori leaning on the wall, hand on his stomach, trying to stop his blood from spilling onto the floor from an open wound. He smiled at the as the stood there, staring at him in shock.

"_Sorry._" He collapsed into Sakura's arms. With the assistance of Deidara, they carried him into the living room and placed him on the couch, so Sakura could begin healing him. After he had been healed and was sleeping peacefully, they sat their, discussing why they hadn't just let him die.

"_I couldn't have let him die. I – I love him Even though he's been a prick and treated me like shit, I still love him.._" Sakura thought about why she couldn't have let him die. She and Deidara would have been free from his jutsu, and she could've returned to her friends and village. She told herself that it was because as a medic, she couldn't just sit back and let someone suffer and die when she knew she had the power to save them, but part of her knew it was something deeper, she just didn't know what.

It was the fifth day. Sasori had told her that he had to eliminate someone, and it had proved harder than expected, but now that he was done, he didn't have to leave all the time. She asked who it was, but he had told her that it didn't concern her and not to ask about it again. She nodded, wondering who it was he had killed. She spent the most part of the day in the room with him, checking him over, constantly asking if he was alright. He said he was and that he wished to rest, so she left him, and went to find something to do.

She was currently washing the dishes in the kitchens. After leaving Sasori, she went to find Deidara, and they both decided to have another go at cooking, to pass the time. They ended up making some Ramen with some Dango and Sake, mainly because it was easy. Deidara had finished his meal quickly and excused himself, saying that he was tired, leaving Sakura with both of their dirty dishes. Silently cursing Deidara, she brought them over to the sink and began to wash them.

While she was doing so, she allowed her mind to wander, dropping her guard. Her thoughts came upon Gaara and the others, and what they might be thinking. She had hoped that they had been sad over her decision, and were blaming it on Sasori and making plans to come and rescue her, but she knew that would be foolish of her. She came to the grim conclusion that they all hated her, believing her to have betrayed them and their respective villages, meaning that they would most likely attempt to kill her when they next met. She sighed sadly at this, desperately hoping that it wasn't true, and that it was only her panicking.

She jumped, tensing, when she felt two arms encircle her waist from behind. She felt someone's head rest on her shoulder, and relaxed when she recognized the chakra signatures to be Sasori's, mentally berating herself for allowing her guard to drop so easily.

"You don't have to do that, you know." He whispered into her ear, smirking. She swallowed, and then smiled, softly nudging him in the stomach with her elbow.

"Well I want to. Plus it gives me some time to think bout some things, and not to think about other things…" She trailed off sadly, and felt his arms tighten around her in a small gesture of comfort.

"Don't worry, my dear, I will help you to forget about _them_ so try not to think about them as it will only depress you. For now, lets retire to our room, shall we?" She nibbled on her lower lip, and dried her hands.

"Okay, I'm finished anyways." He smirked at this, and led her out of the room, and into theirs. They lay on the bed, her snuggling into him with her arms around his middle, and him playing with a few strands of her hair.

"Does this place have a garden too?" She asked suddenly, propping herself up on her elbow to look at him. He nodded.

"Yes and quite a lovely one at that. This one even has a swing attached to a tree. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I really did enjoy picking the flowers and arranging them, and a swing does sound nice." She explained wistfully. Sasori chuckled, pulling her onto his chest, catching her by surprise.

"Well, if you prove yourself in the next couple of days, I may take you outside for a while, but only if you behave." Sakura couldn't help herself, and smiled down at him.

"Okay!" He smirked at her, placing his hand softly at the back of her head, and pulling her down into a passionate kiss, which she responded to eagerly.

… In Suna …

Gaara had spent the last five days, either in his office or in his room or elsewhere, brooding. He couldn't forgive himself for allowing Sakura to leave the village, and allowing Sasori to trick him like that. When he had calmed down and returned to the village, Ino had immediately accosted them to see if Sakura was with them. Upon seeing no pink haired girl with them, she broke down in tears, and was comforted by Temari, who had also started crying. Gaara couldn't face giving the news to Naruto, so told Kakashi to o it, and used his sand to take him away.

He ended up at an Oasis, about a mile away from the Village. It was well out of sight, and extremely beautiful. He had been spending a lot of his time there in the past five days, and was currently there. He smiled softly, sitting down on a rock, as he remembered bringing Sakura to view it, and her reaction.

"_Oh my God, it's beautiful! I didn't think the desert was capable of having something as beautiful as this…" She trailed off in wonder as she moved around, exploring the place. Gaara stood off to the side, watching her with a smirk plastered on his face. He took a few steps towards her._

"_I find that the Oasis is much more beautiful under the moonlight, much like someone I know." He reached her, and grasped her chin with his fingers. She looked up at him, a coy smile on her face._

"_Shut it, you flirt." He chuckled as she swatted his hand away, and continued exploring. While she was preoccupied, he pulled out a basket from behind some rocks. He pulled out a blanket and laid in to a flat surface. He pulled out some ice cream and some other treats, and lit some candles, and placed the basket back behind the rocks and stood back to admire his handiwork. A gasp alerted him to the fact that Sakura had seen._

"_Oh Gaara…" She trailed off, at a loss for words. He smiled softly, and led her over to the blanket._

"_I thought that a moonlit picnic would be to your taste, especially if Ice-cream was involved. She nodded, looking at him._

"_It's perfect."_

_They sat down and began eating the ice-cream. The made idle chat, talking about friends and family. Sakura approached the subject of what they would do when she was able to return to her village. Gaara sat up at this and cleared his throat._

"_I actually wanted to talk to about that." He saw fear appear in her eyes, and chuckled. "Don't worry; I'm not going to 'break up' with you, if that's what you're afraid of." She visibly relaxed and motioned for him to continue, sitting up as well. Gaara suddenly felt himself grow awkward, and cleared his throat again._

"_Well, in case you didn't know, in Suna, the title of Kazekage is passed down through family, and as the Kazekage myself, I need to find myself a suitable wife, to bear me a child." He stopped, feeling his cheeks grow hot. He took a deep breath and continued._

"_And seeing as though we have grown rather close, and the elders have been pushing me to find a wife, and I can think of no-one else who would be more than suitable, I was wondering, if you would…" He was cut off, as he was thrown to the ground by Sakura hugging him._

"_If you're asking me to be your wife, Gaara, then yes. Yes, yes, a thousand times yes!" She whispered. He felt himself smiling, and hugged her back. The pulled away to look at each other, Sakura was crying with joy, and Gaara himself was near to tears. They both decided that they would wait for a while before telling anyone. The next day, he went out and brought her a white gold ring, with an emerald, one that matched her eyes, with small crystals on the band. She had squealed with joy, admiring it as she spoke about how envious the pig would be when she saw it…_

A few drops fell from Gaara's face, hitting the rock and staining it a dark colour. Gaara raised a hand to his face and realised in surprise that he was crying. He clenched his fist, and let out a scream of pure anguish, his sand matching his emotions and destroying the oasis. He felt hate welling up inside him, mainly directed at Sasori, for taking the girl he loved. He was horrified to realise that the hate was also directed at Sakura for leaving, right when he had indirectly professed his love to her. He forced himself to calm down, knowing that the only reason Sakura had returned to Sasori, was to keep everyone safe, knowing that she wouldn't be able to live with herself if she hurt, or killed, someone she loved.

After he had calmed down, he viewed the destroyed place sadly, vaguely realising that Sakura would be upset to find out…

…

He had finally made it back to his house, and it was well past midnight. He sighed as he realised that he had probably worried everyone with his sudden disappearance, namely Temari and Kankuro. He slowly opened the door, wincing slightly when it creaked. He closed it gently, and moved silently towards the stairs.

"It's about time you got back! Temari went crazy when you didn't come back for dinner, which was good by the way." He froze, and turned to see Naruto standing behind him, leaning against the wall with a grin on his face. His eye twitched in annoyance as he noticed that he had been there the whole time, and he had been to concentrated on sneaking upstairs to his room.

"Boy is Temari gonna be pissed at you!" He laughed loudly, and Gaara rushed over to him, covering his mouth.

"Keep your mouth shut, you idiot, or she'll hear you, and then we're both done for!" Naruto paled, gulped loudly and nodded his head. Gaara listened for the sound of footsteps, and sighed in relief when it continued to remain silent. He let go of Naruto, and moved it to the living room to sit down on a sofa. Naruto followed him.

"Kakashi told me what happened. I hope you don't blame yourself for this. It was Sakura's decision, no matter how stupid it was. We will get her back, Gaara." Said person placed his head in his hands, shaking it.

"Somehow I doubt that Naruto. She got away from him once; I don't think Sasori's going to let her out of his sight again. What the hell does he want with her anyways?" Naruto shrugged.

"Maybe he's lonely." Gaara gave him a weird look, then sniggered at the idea. Naruto chuckled as well, and sat down beside his friend. His face suddenly turned serious.

"Gaara… What exactly are your feelings for Sakura?" Gaara leant back, thinking about it. After a few minutes of silence, Gaara looked him in the eyes.

"I love her."

Naruto looked taken aback by this, and Gaara closed his eyes from the emotional pain and bad memories those three little words had brought.

"And I asked her to marry me." Naruto's brain seemed to have gone into overdrive, as he was just sitting their staring into nothing. Gaara was growing worried, when all of a sudden, a huge grin appeared on his face, and he leaped onto Gaara, crushing him in a hug.

"THAT'S SO FUCKING GREAT, GAARA!" Gaara tried to tell him to shut up, but found he couldn't breathe. He heard a rush of footsteps, alerting him that everyone in the house had awoken, and were coming to see what all the commotion was about.

Naruto finally released him, and turned to all the others, who were standing in the doorway with sleepy looks on their faces.

"GUESS WHAT GUYS? GAARA AND SAKURA ARE GONNA GET MARRIED!" There was a silence for a moment, which was broken by Temari and Ino's squeals of joy. Kankuro had clapped his brother over the back, congratulating him. Shikamaru had sighed, complaining that this was all too troublesome, and Kiba and Akamaru were doing some sort of celebratory dance together. Kakashi however, was eerily quiet.

"Congratulations Gaara, but unfortunately, you all seem to be missing a tiny little problem with this…" Everyone turned to look at him. "Sakura isn't currently with us, what with being in the hands of the enemy, not to mention that she left willingly to return to him, which in the eyes of both our villages, could be seen as a betrayal, instantly marking her as a missing-nin." Gaara, who had begun to feel happy, deflated and his depressed mood came back. He pushed Naruto of him and stood up.

"If you all don't mind, I would like to retire to my room now. I have had a long and tiring day and would like to rest." He spoke quietly, and everyone parted for him to leave. Only after they heard his door slam shut did anyone speak, and the first person of course was Naruto.

"Way to go, Sensei." He said, annoyed at Kakashi's lack of tact. Kakashi himself looked oddly confused.

"What?"

… With Sakura …

Sakura was standing outside of Deidara's room, debating on whether or not she should go in, in case he was asleep and she accidentally woke him up. After three minutes of simply standing there, she raised a fist to knock on the door, and jumped back in surprise when the door opened before she could make contact with it.

"What?" Deidara was standing there with an annoyed look on his face, hair standing on end. Sakura gulped and smiled sheepishly.

"How did you know I was out here?"

"I could sense your chakra, and it's annoying me, now do you want, especially at this hour of the _morning_?" He put emphasize on the word 'morning'. Sakura dropped her eyes to the floor, hugging herself.

"I sort of had a nightmare." Deidara's eyes instantly softened, and he moved aside to allow her to enter. She bolted past him and jumped into his bed, pulling the covers up to her chin, sighing contently as she warmed up. Deidara climbed into the bed next to her, half hugging her.

"So, what happened in this nightmare of yours?" She took a deep breathe before explaining.

"Well, I was back in Suna, but it was empty; there was nobody on the streets. So, I ran to Gaara's house and found him, his siblings and my friends there, but they wouldn't look at me, and they were all crying. I ran to Gaara, and tried to tell him about the absence of people, but he just encased me in his sand. He told me that it was his duty as the Kazekage of Suna to eliminate all threats to his village. He then just looked at me coldly, and whispered _traitor_. Next thing I knew, I was in one of the interrogation rooms in Konoha, and my sensei, Tsunade, and the interrogator, Ibiki, were there, just looking at me. Tsunade stepped forward and said that because I had left and gone with Sasori willingly, I had been placed as a missing-nin, one that either had to return to Konoha, or killed on sight." She took a deep breath before continuing, tears beginning to stream down her face.

"She then charged me with aiding Sasori with the massacre of countless Shinobi and civilians. My sentence was death. She then had Kakashi and Ibiki grab me, and haul me from the room. The led me down all these stairs, and to the edge of a crack on the floor. I looked in, and I couldn't see anything, it was just black. I told her that I hadn't done anything, and that I had to have been framed, but she ignored me, and said that I had committed a crime, and had to face the consequences… then they chucked me in. I was falling for ages, and it seemed to lighten up, I could hear screams, and pleads for mercy, and suddenly I was drenched in blood. I saw the ground coming nearer and nearer, until I hit it, and that's when I woke up." She took a shuddering breathe, and wiped away her tears.

Deidara pulled her closer, and began to stroke her hair. She closed her eyes, leaning on him, and trying to calm herself down.

"I think that you're feeling guilty for leaving your friends, and that Gaara person. You had feelings for him, am I right?" He nodded, and she smiled.

"He asked me to marry him!" She gasped, and broke down in fresh sobs. Deidara was momentarily shocked.

"Oh God, I'm such a terrible person! After everything Naruto told me about what happened to him, and I abandoned him right after he basically said 'I love you'! I'm no better than his bastard father." She continued crying, while Deidara smiled softly.

"I'll get you back to him." Sakura stopped crying, and looked up at him in shock. He smiled down at her. "That must be why you're feeling so guilty. You just want to go back to him. The only reason you left was because of that seal thing Sasori placed on you, and because you thought that you were a threat to your friends." She nodded in confirmation, and his smile widened.

"Well as I'm sure you guessed, Sasori placed the same jutsu on me, and surprisingly, I don't actually like being forced to do something against my will so, I figured that we can both work together to get rid of the seal. That way, I can help you get back to your _fiancé_, and I ca be free again." He winked at Sakura and she gave him a watery smile.

"But won't that make Sasori mad at you? Why would you risk so much for me?" Deidara gave pulled her back into a hug.

"Because seeing as though we are both trapped here against our will, I can relate to how you are feeling. And I don't like seeing you in pain, so if I can help you, I will." Sakura began crying again, hugging him back.

"Thanks Deidara." They hugged for a while, before they decided that it would be a good time to go to sleep.

Outside, Sasori stood, leaning against the door, an angry expression on his face. He had heard everything, and was pissed.

'_I don't think so, Deidara. She's mine, and she's staying here, where I can keep her with me forever."_

**TAADAA! So tell me, what do you think; I hope this turned out well, otherwise, I will be sad. Please review and tell me how you think this chapter went. I honestly think it was really angsty, but oh well…**

**Thanks for reading : )**

**P.S**

**I tried changing the paragraph some of you mentioned, and I don't know if I did alright. Unfortunately I don't have time to make any other alterations, sorry : /**


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14! Enjoy!**

**By the way, I'm introducing a new voice, so in case things get a little weird, here is a key to help you understand:**

"**BLAH" – **Inner

'_BLAH'_ – Sakura's thoughts

"_BLAH"_ – New Voice

**Hope that helps if you needed help : )**

It had been a week since anything interesting had happened. Sakura had somewhat resigned herself to her fate. Part of her still had hoped that she and Deidara would be able to break the seal, but after several failed attempts, another part of her begun to rise inside, whispering. She tried as hard as she could to ignore it, but she couldn't fail to notice that it was logical.

"_Just give up! You and I both know that you won't be able to break the seal. You might as well just give up and enjoy your time here. Deidara can help keep you entertained when Sasori can't. I know that Sasori can be harsh sometimes, but he will be good to us, as long as we behave…_" While she did contemplate this, she knew she wouldn't fully submit to Sasori. She wouldn't allow it. She could pretend to, just to ensure her survival, but she wouldn't be able to do it for real.

"_What's the difference?" _The voice whispered snidely. Sakura jumped as her Inner spoke up.

"**Shut the fuck up… Bitch!" **Her inner snarled. Sakura sniggered to herself as quietly as she could. She had begun to realise she was definitely going insane. She knew something was off when her Inner first appeared, but she had passed it off as the voice of what she really wanted to say. When she became more confident, she thought that it would leave, but it didn't. When the other voice, that Sakura had not yet named, had appeared, she realised that there maybe something wrong with her mental state. She grew more and more worried as the voices grew more active, and it didn't help that the two voices absolutely hated each other and frequently argued. They were beginning another one, and Sakura decided that she needed a distraction.

She exited her room hurried to Deidara's room. She pushed the door open with such force; it slammed off the wall, and nearly hit her in the face as it swung closed. Deidara shot up and walked over to her, a worried look upon his face.

"Sakura! What's happened, you look terrified." Before she could compose herself enough to make sense, she grabbed the side of her heads, scrunching her face up as though she were in pain.

"They won't stop!" Deidara grew more concerned.

"Who won't stop? Has someone done something to you Sakura?" She shook her head, still clutching it.

"I can't say… You'd think I'm crazy! Maybe I am crazy. What do I do to make them stop?" She was nearly crying, and Deidara was beginning to get frantic.

"I can't tell you how to make _them_ stop unless you tell me _who_ it is and _what_ they are doing!" Sakura stared up at him, but not focused enough to be concentrating at him. Suddenly she came to and blushed in embarrassment.

"Oh God, sorry you had to see that. Um, nothing was wrong, I just had a weird dream, and I guess I was still living it. If you'll excuse me, I'll just go…" She attempted to leave, but Deidara pulled her back, forcing her to look him in the eyes.

"Don't think that I'm just going to let you leave, especially after tat little show you put on for me. If you want to leave, you're going to tell me what that was about and I want the truth!" Sakura glared at him.

"How will you know if I'm telling the truth?" He let go of her to cross his arms, smirking.

"Your head tilts slightly to the left when you are lying." Sakura gaped.

"**BUSTED!"** Her Inner exclaimed loudly. Sakura winced at the loud voice of her inner, and sighed in defeat.

"Fine, I'll tell you everything, but you can't tell Sasori!" Deidara raised an eyebrow, but nodded anyways. Sakura took a deep breathe, trying to decide how to tell him without making herself look like a complete psycho.

"_Why don't you just tell him straight?" _Sakura decided to call the voice Saki, until she could think of something better.

"**You realise that giving things a name makes you become more attached to them?**** Plus you should have named it Ino, coz the pig and **_**IT**_** are as equally as annoying as each other" **Her Inner grumbled unhappily. She was about to retort, when Deidara cleared his throat.

"I'm waiting."

"I hear voices inside my head." Deidara faltered slightly,

"What?"

"I… hear voices inside my head, and I think I may be going insane." She repeated more hesitantly. Deidara shook his head

"No, I heard you the first time. What I meant was… What?" Sakura stared blankly at him.

"**Wow, he sure is good with words."** Her Inner stated sarcastically. Sakura ignored her.

"Deidara, are you okay?" He was staring at her intensely, as though he was trying to read her mind. She found herself fidgeting underneath his gaze. After a while, he came back to reality and sat down.

"Interesting." Sakura gaped.

"Is that it? Is that all you have to say? I've had to put up with a voice in my head since I can remember, and now I have to put up with another one, and to make matters worse, they hate each other! They're constantly fighting and no matter how hard I try they just won't stop! I'm going insane having to listen to them! I try to tell you this and all you can say is _'interesting'_? Don't you care, I'm going mad-"Her voice had risen to the point where she was almost shouting. Deidara cut her off, leaping up and pulling her into a hug. He began shushing her until she stopped speaking.

"Hey, calm down Sakura. I'm sorry if I upset you, but I honestly didn't know what to say. You just caught me off guard. I really wasn't expecting something like that, so no need to get all emotional" Sakura pulled away.

"It's okay. Sorry I lost it like that." She grinned sheepishly. Deidara smiled and held her hand.

"Come on. Let's go get something to eat, and then we'll talk more about it afterwards. See if we can do something to help."

"**You can get rid of the Bitch, but I ain't going anywhere. I was here first!"** Sakura grimaced, and her Inner procured an image of her chained to a box that said 'Sakura's mind' While the other voice, dubbed Saki/Bitch' was tied to a pole ad on fire."

They entered the kitchen and began raiding the cupboards and fridge/freezer. Sakura let out a squeal of delight when she opened the freezer to find ice-cream, and Deidara made a similar noise, but deeper, when he opened a cupboard to find a packet of cookies. They grabbed something to drink and headed for to Sakura's room. They spent an hour in there, snacking on the food and looking through some books. When the food and drink had run out, they lay on the floor, trying to think of something to do.

"Hey, Deidara… where's Sasori?" Sakura questioned. Deidara thought for a moment before shrugging.

"No idea."

"Come on. I'm bored, so let's go look for him." Deidara sat up to give her an incredulous look.

"Why?"

"So we can get him to give us something to do, or we can make him go and get us something, like more ice-cream." She smiled sweetly at him, and he sighed.

"Fine then." He got up and pulled her up with him. She wanted to check downstairs, but he pulled her around for a minute until they came to a stop outside a door.

"Where's this."

"His room."

Sakura's mouth formed a silent 'oh', and the slowly eased the door open, wincing if it creaked. The room was dark, and there were a few puppets hanging in the corner of the room. The stared at her with sightless eyes, and she shuddered. She went to open the curtains, but was stopped by Deidara. She turned to question him, but silenced herself when she saw him staring ahead with a soft expression and a far away look in his eyes.

She followed his gaze to find a bed, and upon that bed was Sasori, sound asleep. He looked as though he had walked into the room and had fallen straight into the bed. He was lying face down, with his head turned the side, giving them full view. His boyish features were more prominent now that they weren't hardened from his daily expression. They approached him quietly to get a better look, and Sakura couldn't help but smile.

"You know," She whispered, looking at Deidara. "When he's asleep, he doesn't look so evil. Sometimes it looks as though he has a stick shoved up his ass, but now he looks peaceful." Deidara snorted quietly in amusement, meeting her eyes as they laughed silently.

"Tell me Sakura, do you make it a habit to sneak into peoples rooms while they are trying to sleep, and then insult them?" They both froze, turning their heads to face Sasori, Who had opened his eyes, and was staring up at them with a smirk o his face.

"**BUSTED!" **Her inner screamed, and she felt a sense of déjà vu. She shook her head, finding herself to shocked to form words. Sasori pushed his upper half up, using one arm to keep himself there, and the other to rest his head in his hand. His head was tilted, and his sleepy eyes focused on her, smirk still in place.

"Oh, did I startle you?" She shook her head, and his smirk widened. "Oh well, there's always a next time. Before she could comprehend anything, his hand had shot out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her into the bed with him. She let out a shocked gasp as she felt herself being pulled into him, her back against his stomach. She blushed as she could feel his abs, and looked up at Deidara, silently pleading with him to help her. Sasori looked up at Deidara as well, a smile on his face.

"Care to join us, Dei?" Sakura's eyes widened further, and stared as Deidara gave her an apologetic look, and proceeded to climb over them, and settle next to Sasori, who had brought a hand round to hold his.

"Sleep, Sakura. You shouldn't have woken me up." He whispered, and Sakura shuddered. Her inner was growling and hurling abuse at her, while 'Saki' was smiling smugly. Sakura sighed and relaxed against Sasori, with one hand gripping the necklace Gaara had given to her. Sasori did not notice this, so smirked as she drifted off to sleep in his arms.

… In Suna …

Gaara sighed, completely bored out of his mind. Some of the Konoha Shinobi had returned to Konoha the day Sakura had left, to discuss things with Tsunade. When things had been cleared and sorted, they would return and make a decision about Sakura. A small part of him kept reminding him that there was a possibility that she could be condemned for leaving in the company of two S-Class missing nin, and be named one herself, but the rest of him, pushed away that small voice, remaining adamant that they would attempt another rescue mission.

He sat at home, as Kankuro and Temari had opted to take over his duties for a week, giving him some time to relax, and think of ways to get Sakura out of this mess. He had thought about convincing the elders that Sakura had been scared of harming another comrade, but they could respond that there ad been precautions hat they were prepared to take to keep her and the villagers safe. All other ideas seem to have the same outcome, so he settled for telling them that Sakura had been 'ordered' by Sasori through her seal. It was the only idea that made sense, without any loopholes. All that was left was to wait…

He got up and left the house, looking for Naruto. If he was going to wait, he might as well have someone entertain him, and his idiotic blonde friend seemed the best way. He found him in the market, buying an endless supply of instant ramen. Gaara smirked and folded his arms.

"You know, Naruto, I have plenty of those back at my house." Naruto shook his head.

"No you don't. I ate them all this morning." Gaara winkled his nose on disgust.

"All of them? There were twenty in the kitchen!" Naruto smiled sheepishly.

"I'm a nervous eater." Gaara raised an (non-existent) eyebrow, so Naruto explained.

"Well, I'd been thinking about Sakura, and what the elders and granny Tsunade might say, and got worried, so I started eating and well, Once I started, I couldn't stop!" Gaara sighed.

"Hurry up and buy them then. I'm bored and I want to train." Naruto brightened immediately.

"Oh yeah! I'm gonna kick your ass Gaara!" Gaara smirked at this.

"I'm sorry, but which one is the Kage and which one is the Genin, reminding you that the Kage is the highest ranking Shinobi in a village, and Genin is the lowest, just above academy student." Naruto growled.

"I'm gonna make you eat those words when I beat the shit out of you!"

"No, I'm going to beat the shit out of you, then eat your ramen in front of you, while you lay in hospital." Naruto cried out in outrage, and sped off to pay for his mountain of ramen. Gaara watched him, smiling.

…

They both ended up limping home, holding onto each other for support. They had been sparring non-stop for five hours, until they ended it simultaneously; Naruto had sent two clones forward with a rasengan, while Gaara had managed to catch Naruto in a sand coffin, just as Gaara had been hit with the jutsu. However, he still managed to maintain his jutsu, meaning the spar ended in a draw. Naruto, however, refused to accept this.

"I still think I won that." He claimed stubbornly. Gaara rolled his eyes and sighed.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night, idiot." Naruto stuck his tongue out.

"How long will it take until we get back? I hurt all over!" Naruto complained loudly. Gaara's eye twitched and he contemplated cutting his friends tongue out, just to stop him talking.

"We will get there when we get there, now shut the fuck up, or I will kill you!" Naruto gulped, paling. He was silent for the rest of the journey, but let out a loud sigh of relief when they reached Gaara's house. They entered and Naruto flung himself onto the sofa, groaning as he made himself comfortable. Gaara rolled his eyes, and walked into the kitchen. He began boiling some water, and received an instant ramen cup. He poured the water into the cup and brought it to Naruto, who reached for it, stars in his eyes. An idea came to Gaara, who smirked and pulled the ramen away from Naruto who looked as though he was about to cry.

"I'll let you have it, but only if you agree with me that we drew in our spar today." Naruto nodded his head eagerly.

"I'll say you won, just give me the god damn ramen!" Gaara passed him the ramen, and walked back into the kitchen to get some ice cream. He sat down next to Naruto, who was slurping noisily on his food, and proceeded to eat next to him, albeit more quietly. They finished in minutes, and begun resting to allow the food to set. They stayed like this until Temari and Kankuro came downstairs. Temari looked tearful and Gaara was instantly alert.

"What's wrong?" He asked instantly. Naruto shot up, a serious expression on his face.

"A messenger eagle arrived earlier today from Konoha. It was a message from Ino. They spoke to Tsunade about the situation, ad they are on their way back now." Gaara nodded, cautious.

"And…" Temari looked at Kankuro to continue, who took a deep breath.

"Well, according to Ino, Tsunade is all for clearing Sakura's name before she is sentenced, but the some guy came in. Apparently he said that Sakura should not be given the benefit of the doubt, as there was no way to determine whether she was forced to leave or if she left of her own free will. He also said that if she did leave willingly, in the presence of two S-Class missing nin, then…" He trailed of, so Temari finished for him.

"Then she is no better than the Uchiha, and should be named a dangerous missing nin with too much information on the villages and should be killed on sight." Naruto let out a cry of outrage, ranting about how it was stupid, and Sakura was way better than 'the bastard'. Gaara silenced Naruto, who continued to grumble quietly, and turned to his Siblings.

"Did Ino give the name of the man?" Temari nodded.

"His name is Danzo Shimura. He's a Konoha elder who has a great influence over the elders." Naruto fell silent, a solemn look on his face. They stayed in silence, until Naruto voiced Gaara's thoughts.

"Well shit."

… With Sakura …

Sakura opened her eyes, yawning quietly and stretching. She froze when she felt something shift next to her, and turned to see Sasori sleeping next to her. An arm was draped on his shoulder, and she recognized it to be Deidara's, mainly due to the mouth on his hand. She focused her gaze on Sasori's face, as she remembered how she came into this situation. He had pulled her down into the bed, and she hadn't even protested.

'_I am such a whore.' _ She sighed to herself. Almost immediately, her Inner interrupted.

"**Well, it's better than him getting angry at us, and carving something else into our skin!"** Sakura grimaced, not only because what her Inner said was true, but because now she had spoken, 'Saki' would start contradicting her.

"**I love how you give 'it' a name, even though 'it' only just appeared, yet I've been here you're entire life and I still remain you Inner." **Her inner huffed. Sakura was about to apologize, but groaned silently as she was cut off by 'Saki'.

'_Well, if you think about it, he's not going to get angry at you as long as you behave, and he treats you well. He could have easily attacked you for interrupting his sleep earlier, but no, he invited you to sleep with him, which you accepted!"_ Saki said smugly. Sakura flinched when she said 'sleep with him'.

"**You're making us seem like a whore!" **Her Inner shouted.

"_No I'm not, you are by saying that. I'm trying to convince us that we are making the right choice by choosing Sasori over Gaara."_

"**Don't give me that 'us' and 'we' crap, you aren'****t apart of us, you're an anomaly!"**

"_I'm inside __our__ head, aren't I?"_

"**Doesn't mean you are apart of us! Sakura and I are the same, and you are an 'IT'!"** Saki was about to start up again, but Sakura had had enough.

'_SHUT THE FUCK UP!"_ They were both shocked into silence, so Sakura took this opportunity to continue.

'_Why don't you stop arguing? You're both apart of me, just different opinions. Yo both need to find a common ground, or I swear to God, I will find a way to get rid of both of you!'_

"**But Sakura, you don't understand-"**

'_I said shut the fuck up. Now please do as I say so I can have some god damn peace for once!"_ Sakura actually let out a sigh of relief as they grew quiet.

"Are you finished?" She jumped as Sasori's low voice cut through the silence; she looked up into his amused eyes.

"How long have you been watching me?" She whispered apprehensively.

"Long enough." She gulped quietly and he smirked at her discomfort.

"Long enough…" He placed a soft kiss on her lips taking her by surprise. After he pulled away she pushed further.

"Long enough to know what?" He sighed.

"Long enough to know that you seemed to be having an argument with yourself." He looked at her pointedly and she averted her eyes.

"**Busted****, again!" **Her Inner sang while Saki rolled her eyes. Sakura closed her eyes frowning as she reminded them to shut up or else. They fell silent immediately. She opened her eyes again to see Sasori smirking.

"See?" She decided to play dumb

"I don't know what you're talking about." He growled, pulling her closer to him.

"Don't play with me Sakura" He whispered into her ear. "I know that there's something you haven't been telling me. Don't make me force you." She paled at his sudden change in demeanour and whimpered quietly. Deidara shifted behind them and they froze, not wanting to wake him. When he settled, Sasori had calmed down. He brushed her hair away from her face, smiling at her.

"We will talk about it tomorrow. For now, you should go back to sleep." Sakura nodded silently and turned away from him. He wrapped an arm around her waist and she tensed causing him to frown. She stayed like that, only relaxing when she had fallen asleep. He on the other hand stayed awake contemplating this new discovery as he pulled her closer to him, resting his chin on her head.

'_Hmm, so she's schizophrenic? Didn't see that coming__, though it was obvious now I think about it. My seal will obviously be providing a voice to convince her to accept me, but there seems to be another voice, that's seems to be louder. I'll have to do something about that.'_

**And finally, my 14****th**** chapter is out. I'm really sorry for the long wait, but my God, have exams been a bitch. Luckily, I only have one more, so my updates should be more frequent, but thank you for waiting.**

**A****lso, I received a review on a little one shot I did called father, and they said I should do another chapter, only problem was, it only got two reviews, so I don't know if I should, and if I do, should I do it were in the Naruto timeline, after the Chuunin exams arc, she comes across Itachi, and gets angry at him? I do not know…**

**Thank you for still reading and reviewing : )**


	15. Chapter 15

**I am so sorry about the long wait, but I entirely blame my retard sister! The dumb bitch changed the password on our computer account, and then forgot the fucking password. That account has all my work on it, including the plans next for the future chapters, so until she remembers the password, I have to start from the beginning.**

**On a happier note, here's what I can remember from chapter 15!**

Sakura had been constantly pacing in her room for the past half an hour. When she had woken up, Sasori had gone, but she and Deidara were still there. She woke him up, and they returned to their respective rooms to continue sleeping. It was only after she had woken up two hours later, did she remember what Sasori had said.

'_Holy shit, he's going to kill Inner!'_ This unfortunately had set her inner off, and she was forced to listen to her inner's complaints. Saki had been loving this, making snide comments. Her most recent was:

'_**I cannot wait until you and your interfering self are gone! Sasori knows what he's doing and by tonight, you will no longer exist, then we'll finally have some peace!'**_ Her inner wailed loudly at this.

'_Both of you shut the fuck up! Besides inner, you are more like another personality than a voice inside my head, there is no way he'll be able to get rid of you.'_ It didn't help the feeling of anxiety, but at least they were both quiet. While she had been pacing, she hadn't noticed Deidara entering the room. He walked as close as he could, waving a hand in front of her face.

"Sakura…" Nothing.

"Sakura!" Still no response.

"SAKURA!" She jumped as he shouted her name, staring at him oddly.

"What?" Deidara sighed, running a hand through his hair as he sat down on her bed.

"Nothing, I just thought that you might wear the floor down if you continue pacing so fast. Anyways, what the hell is wrong with you?" Sakura sighed as she threw herself onto the bed, sitting next to him.

"Remember the 'voices' I was telling you about?" He nodded. "Well Sasori clocked on last night and now he's going to get rid of my voice, but it isn't a voice, more of another personality in my mind, and I'm scared that if he gets rid of her, then he'll be getting rid of a part of me, and I don't know if I'll still be me with her gone – " She was cut off as Deidara flicked her in the nose. She glared at him and opened her mouth to shout at him, but his hand covered her mouth before she could.

"Sakura… You're rambling." He let go of her mouth and she took a deep breath, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry." Deidara smirked at her, ruffling her hair.

"I think that you are making a big deal out of nothing. Sasori was really tired last night, so there is a good chance that he doesn't even remember, and even if he did, how the hell would he get rid of your… other personality?" Sakura thought about it for a moment. After finding no possible way, she smiled brightly.

"Thanks Deidara! I seriously don't know what I'd do without you." He simply smiled.

"You'd probably go insane and die." He grimaced as she punched him in the shoulder. She smiled sweetly at him and leaned on him.

"Yeah, you're probably right. Not that I'm admitting it of course…" Deidara rolled his eyes as he placed an arm around her shoulder in a half hug.

"I'm hungry. Want to get some food?" He asked after a while. Sakura nodded.

"Yes." They made their way to the kitchen, Sakura constantly on edge waiting for Sasori to appear. Thankfully he didn't so she concentrated on food. She looked in all the cupboards and the fridge, but couldn't find anything she wanted. She looked in the freezer, and all of a sudden time seemed to stop, an imaginary beam of light seemed to shine on the product staring her in the face.

_Ice cream._

"YES!" Deidara jumped in the air at her sudden shout, turning around in alarm.

"What the fuck was that for!" He asked, grasping the area over his heart. Sakura grabbed the pot of ice cream and showed it to him, smiling gleefully. He raised an eyebrow at her actions.

"You realise that ice cream isn't actually proper food…"He trailed of as she glared icily at him.

"I am eating the ice cream." He held up his hands in surrender, turning around to gather up the things he'd dropped.

"Whatever." They retrieved their snacks and went back to her room, settling down on her bed to eat.

"Sasori really needs to et a T.V or something. I've read all the books in this place and he won't even let me to near a window after what happened last time. Even with you here, I think I'm going to go crazy." Deidara nodded sympathetically.

"I know how you feel. He hasn't let me out recently either. Part of me suspects he knows about our 'plans' to free you." She paled at the thought.

"How the hell would he know?" Deidara shrugged.

"He might have over heard us or something. Either way, it doesn't matter. He knows which means we need to be careful when talking about certain things." She nodded in agreement.

"Even in private we get no privacy!" She muttered angrily while Deidara sighed in agreement.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I'm getting bored with your wardrobe. Wear something nice for once! You have a great figure, so flaunt it. You're always wearing such drab clothes, it's depressing!" Sakura just stared at him, mainly due to the sudden change of topic. She then huffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Like you can chat, mister 'I'm always wearing black and blue', you hypocrite!" Deidara smirked.

"I may always wear black, but at least I look good in it." Sakura growled quietly, knowing it was true.

"Yeah, well my clothes are comfortable." Deidara just rolled his eyes.

"You can wear sexy clothes and still be comfortable you know. You wearing hoodies and trackies makes you look like you have no figure!" She huffed again, keeping quiet, knowing she'd already lost the argument.

"Fine, I'll make you a deal." Deidara straightened.

"I'm listening."

"I'll wear more… 'Sexy' clothes, if you get Sasori to buy more ice cream." Deidara pretended to think about it for a minute, and then smiled while holding out his hand.

"Deal!" She smiled as she shook his hand.

"Starting tomorrow." They both laughed at how childish they were acting, not noticing the door opening.

"Well, don't you two look like you're having fun?" Sakura froze, turning to see Sasori leaning against the, a bored look on his face. He pointed to the tub resting on Sakura's lap.

"That's my ice cream." Sakura's mouth dropped slightly, staring at him in disbelief.

'**What is it with red heads and their love of ice ****cream?" **Inner Sakura cried out.

"Deidara, could you leave us for a moment. I need to have a little talk with Sakura." Said person gulped, shooting a pleading look at Deidara, who returned the look with a sympathetic one as he complied with Sasori's request. Watching him leave and close the door, Sakura felt a faint sense of Déjà vu. They stayed in their positions after Deidara left, Sasori staring at Sakura and Sakura staring at the floor.

"Perhaps you'd like to explain what was going on last night?" Sakura jumped slightly as his voice broke the silence, she looked at him, smiling nervously.

"Oh that? I was just talking to myself. I'm always doing that when I'm bored." Sasori scoffed.

"Don't play me for a fool Sakura. I watched you for five minutes, and that wasn't simply talking to yourself. This could pose a serious risk to your mental health." Sakura was growing desperate.

"It's just the thoughts that I don't want to say out loud, that's it!"

"Oh really? Then what was so bad that you didn't want to voice last night?" She gulped.

"I was just thinking about how awkward it was lying in bed with you and Deidara." She said quietly, praying that he believed her. Her heart sank when his eyes narrowed.

"I don't believe you." She shifted nervously. He pushed himself of the door frame and walked towards her, arm out stretched and fist clenched. When he reached her, he opened his hand to present a small green pill.

"Here. Deidara had a similar problem, so I created a drug to block it out. Take it." She stared at the pill, then at him. She shook her head, eyes widened and voice quiet in fear.

"No."

Sasori's eyes narrowed into slits and the room seemed to grow cold. He slowly placed the pill down on a small table next to her bed. Then without warning, he pounced. He pinned her to the bed, holding her arms above her head and straddling her waist. Sakura squeaked in terror.

"You seem to forget that I have the power to make you do whatever I want, my dear." He whispered angrily into her ear, making her shiver.

"Then why d-don't you just order me t-to eat it." She asked shakily. Sasori smirked.

"Why would I waste my chakra on such trivial things? Now, let me make this clear; either you swallow the pill, or I'll make you."

"Why does it matter so much? It's just a voice!"

"It obviously must be more than that if you would go so far as to anger me by not following my orders. I can't have anything interfering with my plans, now eat it." Sakura clamped her mouth shut, and Sasori smirked cruelly.

"Very well then." He grabbed the pill and placed it in his mouth. He then kissed her aggressively, making her gasp in shock. He used this to his advantage and pushed the pill from his mouth into hers using his tongue. He pushed to pill as far back into her mouth as he could, causing her to swallow on reflex. She sat up chocking as he got off her, smirking.

"YOU BASTARD!" She screamed at him. He only raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Tut tut, my dear, that kind of vulgar language doesn't suit you at all." She glared at him with tears in her eyes as he chuckled.

'**Sakura! Something's wrong."** Her inner cried urgently. Suddenly, a burning pain erupted in her head, causing her inner and Saki to scream in pain. She grabbed her head and bent over, crying out in pain. She was faintly aware of Sasori speaking.

"Oh, did I forget to mention that the process will be extremely painful? Well, you know now." That was the last thing she heard before she passed out from the pain.

Sasori looked at her limp body and sighed tiredly.

"Why do you have to make things so difficult? He asked quietly. He approached her, shifting her until she was in a more comfortable position, then lay next to her. While drifting off to sleep, he smirked slightly, imagining how freaked out she would be waking up next to him.

… In Suna …

Gaara and Naruto sat with each other, awaiting the arrival of Lady Tsunade and Danzo Shimura so they could begin the meeting that would determine Sakura's fate. Naruto was nervous about Danzo, knowing how much of a prick the Konoha elders could be.

"What are we going to do if they become convinced that Sakura is a threat?" Naruto asked agitatedly

"Then we will have to do all that we can to convince them otherwise."

"You're the Kazekage, your word is law! If you say that Sakura is innocent then everyone has to believe you." Gaara sighed in frustration, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"You know it doesn't work like that. As Kazekage, I must do what I can to protect my village. If the elders become convinced that Sakura has indeed betrayed us, then I have to take the necessary action to prevent any harm coming to my village. I can not go against that for my own selfish reasons." Naruto frowned angrily.

"So you would abandon her then?" Gaara growled angrily, standing up to pace.

"You know I wouldn't d something like that, why would you even say it!" Naruto hung his head in shame.

"I'm sorry, I'm just nervous. I really want Sakura to come home, but if they decide she can't be trusted… They'll call her a traitor and try to kill her! I've already lost Sasuke, I can't loose her too." Gaara sat down next to his friend.

"We won't let that happen." Naruto nodded, head still hung. They stayed in silence for a while, until a shinobi entered the room. She turned to face Gaara and bowed.

"The Konoha shinobi have arrived, my Lord. They are waiting for you at the Gates." Gaara nodded.

"Thank you, Matsuri. We will be there shortly." Matsuri bowed and disappeared. Gaara nodded towards Naruto and they both set off at full speed towards the gates. They arrived to see Tsunade and Kakashi talking with Temari and Kankuro, waiting with Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba and Akamaru, Sai and a man they did not recognize and identified him as Danzo.

If anything, Danzo's appearance freaked Gaara out. He an old, and seemingly frail man with a cane. His forehead and right eye were covered in bandages and an 'X' shaped scar on his chin. He had black hair and a white shirt with a brown robe over it, which came over his right shoulder and covered his feet and right arm, which was also bandaged. Gaara repressed a shiver and approached them.

"Welcome back to Suna, Lady Hokage. I trust your journey was okay." Tsunade nodded, smirking.

"It was fine. I was actually wondering when the meeting will begin."

"It will begin as soon as you and the others are settled into the rooms I have had prepared for you." The old and bandaged man approached to greet him.

"Greeting, Lord Kazekage, it is an honour to meet you. I am Danzo Shimura, one of the Konoha elders." Gaara nodded, shaking his hand.

"Yes, Lady Tsunade mentioned that you would be accompanying her on the journey here. It is a pleasure meeting you. Allow me to show you to where you are staying." Throughout the exchange, Naruto had been strangely quiet. After he had showed them to their rooms, he and Naruto walked to the meeting room to wait for the others. On the way there, he decided to bring it up.

"Naruto, why were you so quiet when we were greeting the others? It was strange and out of character for you." Naruto just shrugged half heartedly.

"The Elders don't really like me that much, what with the Kyuubi. It was just kind of awkward." Gaara nodded in understanding.

"I see." They arrived at the meeting room, Gaara sitting at the head of the table and Naruto a few seats away from him. It didn't take long for the others to arrive, when they did, Naruto left his seat to stand beside his fellow Shinobi as part of the guard, and soon the meeting had begun. Tsunade was the first to speak. She stood up and cleared her throat, addressing everyone in the room.

"As you all know, we are here to discuss the current situation concerning my apprentice, Sakura Haruno, being held captive by Sasori. It is well known that Sasori has placed a jutsu on Sakura which forces her to do his will, which can pose a threat. It already suspected that Sasori allowed us to find Sakura so he could order her to assassinate the Kazekage, and nearly succeeded in killing Naruto Uzumaki, after which she fled the village. We are here to discuss whether she left of her own accord or if she was ordered to, and if she should be considered a threat." She sat back down and waited for someone to begin talking. Eventually, one of the Suna elders, a male, stood up to talk, looking to Gaara for permission. Gaara nodded and the elder began.

"It is, to my belief, ridiculous to consider that Miss Haruno left of her own accord. She is a loyal shinobi to Konoha and it is my belief that she would rather die than give away any information concerning either of our villages. It is my belief that she was ordered by Sasori to leave the village when both assignation attempts failed to avoid her being kept and possibly killed while here. However, this jutsu that Sasori has placed on her does make her a threat and we cannot allow her to enter the village and risking her harming our citizens and shinobi." He nodded and sat back down. Another elder, this time a female, stood up to talk.

"While you give a good argument, Elder Suzuki, I must point out that there is no way of knowing for sure whether she was forced to leave or if she just left. We only have the reports of the two people there at the time, which are Naruto Uzumaki and Lord Kazekage and both their reports are the same; she looked panicked. This strongly suggests that she may have left willingly." Elder Suzuki stood up again.

"If she left willingly, Elder Takahashi, it was most likely because she saw herself as a threat to others and wished to remove herself before she harmed an innocent civilian."

"Then that would have been a serious lack of judgement on her behalf." Elder Suzuki opened his mouth angrily, but was cut off when Gaara held up a hand.

"You both have good points, but as you said yourself, Elder Takahashi, there is no way of knowing." They both nodded and sat down. Danzo took this opportunity to speak.

"Lord Kazekage, if I may." Gaara nodded, though silently dreading what he was about to say. Danzo stood up and addressed the rest of the room.

"As Lord Kazekage said, there really is no way we can know if Miss Haruno left willingly or not, so the logical thing to do is to consider both scenarios. What is more important right now is if there is a chance she has given away any information on our villages. Being the Hokage's apprentice, she is bound to have an incredible amount of knowledge on both our villages. Information that could mean danger for all of us. And if Sasori and his partner Deidara still have contact with the rest of the Akatsuki, we could be at risk of an invasion. We also need to find out of Sasori has any spies placed in this village, as it is to my belief that he has indeed done this before." At this, murmurs broke out amongst the elders as they contemplated his words.

"From what Tsunade has told me, Miss Haruno is indeed a loyal shinobi and wouldn't willingly give out information, but due to this seal she had, Sasori need only order her to and she would reveal all our secrets." At this, Kankuro raised his hand.

"If I may." Gaara nodded in consent and he began.

"During my time with Sasori, not once did he torture me for any information concerning our village, and from what Sakura told me, he hadn't asked her either. Also, Sakura was allowed much more freedom than I was, me being tied to a chair day and night, while at some points she was allowed outside. This led me to believe that Sasori seems to have taken an interest in Sakura, but not to get information out of her." His tone left Gaara's blood boiling as he tried to calm his emotions and keep his sand at bay. He noticed Naruto's facial expression had turned deadly as well. Danzo nodded.

"If what you say is true, then we have to believe that Sasori will put up an immense fight to keep Miss Haruno with him." Suddenly, he turned to face Gaara.

"Lord Kazekage, It has come to my attention that you intended to marry Miss Haruno." Gaara nodded slowly.

"That is correct." Danzo sighed.

"Usually, this would be something to celebrate, but considering the circumstances I must ask this. You understand that if Miss Haruno has changed allegiances or given away any information concerning our villages willingly, she will be branded a traitor and it will be ordered that she be killed on sight?"

Everything was quiet, as Gaara watched Danzo. He didn't seem to be enjoying this as Gaara thought he would, but then again, he was probably hiding his emotions. All eyes were on him, waiting for him to speak. Naruto seemed to be silently pleading with him. Finally, Gaara sighed and nodded."

"I understand." Naruto gave a cry of outrage, and Tsunade slammed her fist on the table.

"Naruto if you can't control yourself, you will be asked to leave the room!" Naruto quietened down, but settled for glaring angrily at Gaara, who shot him a quick apologetic look, before turning back to Danzo. Danzo nodded and turned back to the room.

"Now all that's left is to vote on whether we should attempt to retrieve Miss Haruno, or leave her in the hands of these missing Nin."

… With Sakura …

Sakura opened her eyes, wincing at the pain. She stayed lying down, and found herself unable to move due to something over her waist. That 'something' turned out to be Sasori's arm draped over her waist. She tried to move, but his arm tightened around her and she stilled, afraid of waking him. His head was buried in her hair and she could feel his breath.

'_Can this get any worse?'_ She asked herself.

'**Nope, I'm still here!'** Her inner said gleefully. Sakura held in a gasp as her eyes widened.

'_How the fuck…"_

'**It backfired! His pill was a poison that focused on a certain part of the brain, which I'm guessing is why it burned. Like he said, it was to get rid of **_**a **_**voice, so if I was just **_**a voice**_**, it would have got rid of me and not 'Saki'. But im like another personality and 'Saki' was just **_**a voice **_**so it only affected her!' **Sakura smiled.

'_If he discovers this, it's going to piss him off."_ Inner Sakura shook her head, grinning widely.

'**I've thought about that, and I've come to a conclusion. He could tell I was here because he could see me through your eyes when I'm talking, so all I have to do I stay quiet."**

'_Why can I not just avoid eye contact?"_

'**Because then he'll start to suspect us****.'** They both shut up when they felt Sasori shift behind them.

"Sakura, are you awake?" He asked tiredly, yawning.

"Yes."

"How do you feel?" He asked.

"Empty." She replied emotionlessly. He sighed and rubbed her shoulders.

"It will get better. By the way, you need to back your belongings. We're leaving tonight. We've stayed here too long and I have a place we can stay for a while a few miles away." She nodded and got up to begin packing her stuff, not looking at him. He watched her for a while, then left. She sighed in relief as she packed her stuff.

'**You know Saki was actually a voice created by the seal Sasori gave us."** Sakura froze.

'_What?"_ Her inner scoffed.

'**Why did you think I was so hostile?'** Sakura shook her head in exasperation.

'_Now that Saki is gone, do you think that the seal won't work anymore?'_ Her inner sighed sadly.

'**No, I already checked it out. The seal is still functioning, but I believe it may be weak enough for us to attempt to fight back.'** Sakura nodded, lifting her bag over her shoulder.

'_Let's go hang out with Deidara until we have to leave, I really don't want to risk Sasori coming back for some 'alone time'.'_ Her inner nodded in agreement. They made their way into Deidara's room. He was in the middle of packing his things, but froze when he saw her, a guilty expression coming over his face. He opened his mouth to apologize but Sakura stopped him.

"Don't worry about it, I understand." She said, smiling softly. He closed his mouth nodding and continued with his packing. When he had finished, they sat on his bed silently for a few minutes.

"You never told me you could hear voices too." She said teasingly after a while. Deidara blushed slightly and looked away.

"It wasn't really voices, it was only two voice, for when I argued with myself. Sasori realised and for some reason he got worried, so he made me take a pill and I had an excruciating headache and passed out. When I woke up, I couldn't hear it anymore." Sakura frowned, confused.

"But why would he be worried?" He shrugged.

"Maybe he thought it would interfere with how effective his jutsu is." She nodded.

"Did the other voice stay?" He nodded.

"Does it say things like how much better it would be to stay with Sasori?" His eyes widened.

"You as well?" She nodded

"I can still hear my voice, and she figured it out. It's kind of like a side effect of the Jutsu he placed on us, sort of encouraging us to stay with him." Deidara's eyes widened in shock and opened his mouth, but Sakura shook her head and held a finger in front of her mouth. He nodded and got up to find Sasori, who was waiting for them in the kitchen, an irritated look on his face.

"What took you so long? I hate to be kept waiting!" They both bowed their heads and muttered an apology. Sasori silently ordered Sakura to not attempt to escape, and they were off. They travelled west for a few hours before turning southwest. The journey so far had been silent, until Sasori suddenly stopped in a clearing, ordering them to do the same. Sakura concentrated, and felt four chakra signatures approaching. Three unfamiliar, and one _very _ familiar.

'_**Ah shit.' **_ She and her inner thought simultaneously. Deidara looked at Sasori, who nodded. Deidara disappeared leaving her and Sasori alone.

'_Why did Deidara leave?'_ Her inner shrugged. She was about to ask Sasori, but held back as the chakras grew dangerously close.

Finally, the four shinobi entered the clearing, stopping ahead of them. There was a red haired girl, a blue haired guy, a really tall orange haired guy, and the leader. The leader stepped forward, a smirk on his face.

"Well, Sakura. It's been a while hasn't it?" Sakura nodded, face blank.

"It has, hasn't it…? Sasuke."

**DUN DUN DUUUUUUUN****, DOUBLE CLIFFHANGER! Sasuke has arrived! Will the Suna Elders and Danzo order that Sakura be killed? What will happen next? I don't even remember if this was part of the original chapter! Oh well, fuck it, I'll just go with the flow. Sorry again for the wait, and I'll try to have the next one up ASAP!**


	16. Chapter 16

**And here is chapter 16!**

On the outside, Sakura was calm and collected. However, internally it was another matter.

'**HOLY FUCKING SHIT IT'S SASUKE! WHAT THE HELL ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO NOW, HE'S GOING TO KILL US!'** Her inner screamed. Sakura had to refrain from wincing at how loud her inner was. She stared levelly at Sasuke, who was still smirking, albeit coldly, with his arms crossed.

"I never expected you of all people to abandon Konoha, Sakura." Sakura narrowed her eyes slightly, mimicking his position.

"I guess you didn't know me as well as you thought you did." Sasuke raised an eyebrow at this, his smirk growing."

"Well, you have changed." She flushed slightly, glaring at him. Sasori stepped forward next to her, bowing his head slightly.

"We have no wish to fight, we only want to pass without conflict." He spoke softly, and Sasuke nodded his head in agreement, and then fixed his eyes on Sakura, who averted hers. After getting over the initial shock of seeing him again, she suddenly had no desire to look at him. The red head girl had seen Sasuke staring at her, and flushed in jealousy.

"Slut." She muttered, only everyone heard. The orange haired guy looked mildly offended at her language, while the blue haired guy sniggered, while Sasuke and Sasori smirked in amusement. The red haired girl smiled smugly as Sakura blushed in anger and embarrassment.

'**FUCK HER! GIVE HER A PIECE OF OUR MIND SAKURA!' **Her inner shouted and she happily complied.

"Like you can talk, you fucking ugly red head bitch! You're travelling with three guys. If I'm a slut, I'd hate to see what people would call you!" Now it was the red haired girls turn to blush in embarrassment as the blue haired guy burst out laughing, while the orange haired guy politely tried to hide his.

"Oh, she got Karin good, don't you think Juugo?" He said, still laughing. The orange haired one, Juugo, merely smiled slightly.

"Shut up Suigetsu!" She hissed angrily. She turned back to Sakura, who was smiling.

"I dare you to say that to my face!" She shouted. Sakura's smile widened.

"I just did! Are you deaf as well as an ugly ass bitch?" Now the blue haired guy, Suigetsu, was roaring with laughter, and even Sasori and Sasuke were chuckling slightly.

"Perhaps you shouldn't egg her on, Suigetsu; otherwise they may end up fighting." Juugo said, though smiling slightly.

"B-but It's so fucking f-funny!" He cried out in between laughs. This caused Karin to scream threats at him, saying she would break his ribs, and then drown him in the water he was so fond of. Sakura smiled widely, knowing she had won this, while her Inner whooped in agreement.

'**OH YES, WE GOT THAT UGLY BITCH GOOD!'** Her inner shouted triumphantly. Sasuke watched her, intrigued at her confidence and power.

'_She's changed more than I thought.__ Definitely isn't the same annoying useless girl from before.'_ Sasuke thought as Karin stood there, at a loss of what to say while Sakura smiled triumphantly. Sasori placed a hand on Sakura's shoulder, smiling in amusement.

"Well, this has been fun, but we really should be leaving. Come Sakura." Sakura nodded, smiling sweetly at Karin.

"We should do this again sometime!" Karin simply glared at her and turned away as she and the others departed. She and Sasori set off again, and she noticed it was nearing sunset. Soon enough, Deidara appeared a gleeful smile present on his face.

"I would just like to say that I heard all of that and it was fucking hilarious!" Sakura laughed, and thanked him. Sasori shook his head and picked up speed. Soon, the moon was high in the sky and they had settled in a tree to rest.

"We are nearing out destination. We should be there by tomorrow nightfall." Sasori had declared and she had nodded.

"Why did we leave in the first place?" Sakura asked, slightly confused.

"I just don't want to stay at one place for more than a few days. Sooner or later your companions will be searching for you, and I want it to be impossible for them to find you, therefore, the maximum amount of time we stay at a place will be a week, and that will only be if one of us is severely injured and unable to travel." Sakura nodded in understanding, feeling slightly depressed as he mentioned her friends. She pushed this feeling aside, and begun eating, chatting with Deidara about how ugly Karin was.

Suddenly, Sasori froze, cursing under his breathe. Sakura and Deidara rose quickly, alert and ready for an attack.

"What is it?" Sakura whispered urgently, glancing around her. Sasori looked around the trees.

"Those shinobi we ran into earlier today, you knew the leader?" Sakura nodded on confirmation.

"We were on the same Genin team. Why?" Sasori looked pissed.

"He seems to have taken an interest in you. They are following us." Sakura froze, not wanting to believe him.

"Wh-what?"

"They are currently five kilometres away from us, most likely waiting for us to continue our journey so they can continue to follow us. Your little banter with the Kunoichi he is travelling with isn't turning out to be as fun as it was when it began. Sakura couldn't help but agree, and found herself growing scared.

"What do we do if you're right?" She whispered, unconsciously moving closer to him. He placed his hands on both her shoulders, easing her into a sitting position in his lap, While Deidara stayed up and aware of their surroundings, in case of a sudden attack.

"Well then we'll have to make it clear who you belong to, won't we?" He whispered seductively into her ear. Sakura shivered, leaning into him, but her thoughts where different.

'_But I don't __**belong to**__ you or Sasuke.'_ She thought miserably._ 'I __**belong with**__ Gaara."_

"Sasori sensed her unease, and began kissing her neck lightly, causing her to shiver.

"Relax, Sakura. I'll make sure no harm comes to you, my dear." He whispered in her ear, and continued kissing her, enjoying the reactions he received from her. Sakura blushed deeply, turning her head to the side to allow him easier access.

"O-okay." She breathed. Sasori smirked against her neck, the raised his head to hers, using a finger to turn her head towards his, and captured her lips in a soft, short kiss. He moved away, smirking.

"Good, because I hate seeing you look so tense." _'Now sleep.' _And Sakura suddenly felt herself growing tired and fell limp against Sasori as she gave in to the darkness. Sasori held her against him, smirking smugly.

… With Gaara …

Gaara sighed in annoyance from his seat in his office. Thankfully, the vote was in favour of once again setting out to retrieve Sakura, but it was decided that they should wait until they hear valid information on her possible whereabouts; otherwise it would be a waste of time for the shinobi, especially if they were headed in the wrong direction.

It also didn't help that Naruto was still pissed off at him for agreeing to kill Sakura if she had indeed 'defected'. Gaara had wanted to shout at him for his stupidity. It was a similar situation with the Uchiha. Naruto naively believed that there was good left in him, and was hell bent on returning him to the village, denying the fact that if he was returned; he would be sentenced for his crimes and possibly executed. Sakura had left willingly (but no-one needed to know that), and he could only hope that she hadn't defected.

He got up from his seat after finishing the last of his paperwork, and left to find his idiotically loyal blonde friend. But first, he would remove his ridiculously long Kazekage robes and change into something more suitable.

As luck would have it, Naruto was seated in his living room, a stupid grin on his face. Gaara crossed his arms, huffing at how happy his friend seemed when not in his presence.

"What's got you so happy? And wipe that grin off your face, you look like a retard." Naruto jumped from his seat, turning to face Gaara with a confused expression on his face.

"When the hell did you get back?" He asked loudly. Gaara refrained from wincing at his volume.

"Just a second ago, now answer the question. Why are you so happy?" The grin had returned.

"Tsunade has sent an order to Konoha requesting Hinata for this mission. She said that it would be useful to have someone with the Byakugan as it would make finding Sakura easier. I can't wait until she arrives, I've missed her." Gaara's eyes softened at this. He turned towards his stairs, stopping momentarily.

"Oh, by the way Naruto, it has come to my attention that someone has set up a Ramen stand in Suna. After I've changed, perhaps you would like to visit it?" He turned around, smirking at the stars in his friends eyes. Then, Naruto's body language suddenly changed from joyful to suspicious as he narrowed his eyes at Gaara.

"You aren't asking me out on a date, are you?" He questioned warily. Gaara rolled his eyes.

"Oh darn, I had hoped you wouldn't figure that out." He said, deadpanned. Naruto, being the oblivious idiot he was, paled.

"It was sarcasm!" Gaara snapped and stormed up the stairs. Downstairs, Naruto sighed in relief, and flopped down onto the couch, daydreaming about his reunion with Hinata while waiting for Gaara. After 20 minutes, Gaara came downstairs, and Naruto rolled off the couch, pulling himself up with a tortured look on his face.

"There you are! How fucking long does it take for you to get changed? I'm starving!" He cried. Gaara glared at him.

"I had a shower as well… And I would suggest you do the same." He said after a while, wrinkling his nose. Naruto just grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him out the door, kicking it shut.

"Yeah yeah, I'll do that later! But for now, I can hear sweet Ramen calling my name, so lead the way Gaara!" Gaara growled at being manhandled and the blatant disrespect for his property, but nevertheless, took the lead. When they finally found the place, Naruto cried out in joy and ran inside, and Gaara was reminded of a five year old.

Gaara decided that he would never pay for Naruto again after he had cleaned his way through his thirtieth bowl. He decided he was full at his forty fifth bowl of ramen, setting his bowl at the top of a towering pile. Gaara stared wide eyed, slightly disgusted and deeply disturbed. Sakura had told him, no warned him that Naruto had an unhealthy obsession with the dish, but he hadn't taken her seriously. He winced as Naruto gave a loud and satisfied burp.

"Ah, that was almost as good as old man Ichiraku's back in Konoha!" He seemed oblivious to the glares that he was receiving from the owner, who looked disgruntled at having his ramen dubbed 'second best' by an outsider. Gaara smirked at this, and asked for the bill. His eyes widened comically at the total, shooting Naruto an icy glare. Naruto simply rubbed the back of his neck, smiling sheepishly.

"Sorry Gaara, I just love ramen so much!" Gaara paid the amount, dragging the blonde out by the ear.

"Next time, you are only allowed to eat a set amount of bowls, unless you are paying for it, do you understand me?" He hissed threateningly. Naruto shuddered, nodding his head to the best of his ability.

"Do you think you could let go? It hurts…" Gaara sighed, and reluctantly let go, and they continued there walk silently. After a while, he noticed Naruto was worried over something. Sometimes he would take step twice on the same foot, or his shoulder would twitch involuntarily. The biggest give away, however, was that he was silent.

"What's wrong Naruto? You seem… troubled." Naruto glanced around warily; as if afraid someone was listening in. After glancing in all directions, he leant closer to Gaara.

"I think Danzo is having me tailed." He whispered lowly to Gaara. Gaara nodded slightly, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"I'll talk to Danzo about this tomorrow. Until I can find out his reasons, stay in the house and don't give him a reason to suspect that you might be dangerous." He whispered back. Naruto nodded, and they continued their walk back in silence, only speaking to wish each other a good night once in the house and entering their rooms.

…

"I was wondering if I could speak with you in private, Danzo." Gaara had kept true to his word, and located Danzo the following day to find out his intentions. Said person nodded, a polite smile gracing his face.

"Why of course, Lord Kazekage." After walking to a secluded area, He turned towards Danzo, wiping all emotion from his face.

"It has come to my attention that you are having Naruto Uzumaki followed." Danzo tensed slightly, eyes narrowed.

"How do you know? Who told you this?" He questioned. Gaara smirked.

"You did just now." Danzo's eyes widened slightly, before chuckling.

"Ah, well played Lord Kazekage. Yes, I am having the Uzumaki child followed." Gaara's eyes narrowed slightly.

"May I enquire as to why you are?" Danzo nodded.

"Of course. I am worried about his temper and how he reacted in the meeting yesterday. I'm sure he knows why he is unable to join the search parties, but he seems angered by our decision none the less."

"If you are worried that his control of the Kyuubi will slip, you needn't do so. Naruto had enough control I assure you." Danzo nodded, waving a hand in dismissal.

"I don't want to take any risks. I know he has spectacular control over the beast, however, if he only slightly looses control, a lot of people could be seriously hurt, especially civilians." Gaara wasn't buying any of it.

"It hasn't happened before, so I don't see why it would-" He was cut off by Danzo.

"Actually, he has lost control before, and someone was almost seriously injured." Gaara was getting annoyed now.

"What do you mean by almost, and who was it?"

"Sakura Haruno." Gaara faltered at this new piece of information.

"…What?" Danzo nodded.

"During Team 7's mission to meet Akasuna no Sasori's spy, which turned out to be Kabuto, Orochimauru appeared. According to Yamato's report, Naruto lost control and activated four tails of the nine tails. Miss Sakura rushed forward to try and subdue him, and he lashed out at her, injuring her arm. If Yamato hadn't stepped in, he would have killed her. According to Yamato, her injury was so severe, she was unable to heal it herself, and they were forced to accept medical help from the enemy." Gaara was speechless. Why hadn't they told him this? Danzo looked sombre, awaiting Gaara's reply. He cleared his throat and addressed Danzo.

"I understand your reasoning behind your actions, however, Naruto is my guest, and being followed is making him uncomfortable. I would appreciate it if you could withdraw whoever is following him." Danzo bowed low.

"Of course, Lord Kazekage." He straightened and Gaara nodded his thanks. He turned to leave, but hesitated. He turned back to Danzo, curious.

"Out of curiosity, how did Sakura react after being attacked by Naruto in that form?"

"She healed him, as the intensity of the Kyuubi's chakra had weakened him, and then refused to tell him what he had done to her." Gaara nodded, using his sand to transport him to his home, where Naruto was once again sitting in his living room, eating instant ramen. He brightened when he saw Gaara, standing up.

"Gaara! Did you find Danzo? What did he say?" He held up a hand to silence Naruto before speaking.

"He was afraid that you might lose control of the Kyuubi and injure people." Naruto glared at the floor, muttering to himself.

"Nosy senile old bastard." The corners of Gaara's lips twitched lightly before he turned serious again.

"Why didn't you tell me that you hurt Sakura when you lost control?" Naruto visibly flinched as an ashamed look came on his face.

"I guess it never came up in conversation." He said quietly. Gaara sighed.

"I don't blame you for it. I'm just curious why you never said anything."

"I felt so guilty; I just wanted to forget about it. Especially after she tried to hide it from me so she wouldn't hurt my feelings. I can't understand why she healed me after what I did to her." Gaara lead his friend to the sofa to sit down.

"She did it because she loves you and she understands that you can't control yourself when you're being possessed by the Kyuubi. What kind of a friend would she be otherwise?" Naruto let out a breath, smiling slightly.

"I guess your right. I can't wait until we get her back. When we do, I'm gonna tell her how much I love her… As a sister of course." He added hastily, shooting Gaara a worried glance. Gaara smiled, patting him on the back.

"Of course, it's only natural. I'll be doing the same thing of course. The only thing is I won't be telling her… I'll be showing her." His smile turned into a smirk as Naruto turned green.

"That was too much information!"

… With Sakura …

Sakura gave a small cry of happiness as the house they would be staying in came into view. Once inside the house, she rushed upstairs, finding the biggest room and claiming it as hers. She opened the wardrobe and was surprised to find new clothes for her already in it. Her inner was amazed.

'**Is this a magic house?' **She asked in wonder. Sakura rolled her eyes.

'_No, Sasori just knows us well enough to know that we would grab the biggest room in the house.'_ Her inner snorted.

'**Good to know!'**A cough from the doorway alerted her to Deidara's presence. She turned around.

"What?" He raised an eyebrow, but continued.

"Sasori's gone out to get some food. The nearest village is quite far, so he'll be a while, so it's just you and me." He smiled evilly, staring at her. Sakura looked at him, then to her wardrobe (full of annoyingly fancy tops and bottoms), then back to Deidara. She whimpered.

'_Why me!'_

It took them half an hour to try on all the clothes (all of which fit her perfectly) and she was wishing she was dead by the end of it. Tired, she collapsed face down onto her bed, Deidara following suit. He sighed happily.

"Well, that was fun!" He exclaimed happily. Sakura lifted her head to glare at him.

"Fuck. You." She stated blankly. Deidara responded by shoving her head back down. She cried out in indignation before rolling over to face him.

"Soooo… What do you want to talk about?" Deidara pondered this for a second, before an imaginary light bulb lit up over his head.

"You're engaged to the Kazekage right? What do you want your wedding to be like?" Sakura sighed.

"I originally wanted a small wedding with only close friends and family invited, but the Kazekage getting married to the Hokage's apprentice? I think a small wedding is out of the question. It's going to be massive. An extravagant wedding!" She groaned at the mere thought of it.

"Any thought on what you want your dress to be like?" She scrunched her nose as she thought about it.

"I remember looking at some wedding magazines with Ino at one point. I think the style I like the most was the empire waist line dresses, with of the shoulder sleeves. Not form fitting though, I'd feel like im being imprisoned by the material." She grimaced at the mere thought while Deidara snorted in amusement. "Either that or a traditional wedding Kimono, but white."

"What about food?"

"I'll have lots of ramen to keep Naruto satisfied, and a variety of other foods. I'll also have to cakes. One really big and the other medium sized. I'll give the big one to Naruto." She smiled as she thought of her friend. Suddenly a huge yawn escaped her mouth and she closed her eyes.

"I'll carry on talking when I wake up." She told Deidara and rolled over into a more comfortable position, falling asleep. Deidara gave her a weird look, before shrugging his shoulders and lying next to her, falling asleep as well.

…

Sakura woke up a while later, stretching and wincing as a few bones cracked and joints popped. She carefully got off the bed, trying not to wake Deidara. She smiled softly at the peaceful look on his face. She slowly crept out of the room, turning the light off and closing the door as silently as she could.

She wondered around, trying to find Sasori's room, whish wasn't difficult considering the house was definitely smaller than the other. She opened his door, peeking her head inside.

"Sasori?"

When she received no answer, she walked in to take a look around. She figured he must not be back from the village yet. She noticed the top draw of his bedside cabinet was slightly opened. Curious, she opened it to investigate, gasping at the item inside.

It was the necklace Gaara had brought for her when she had first escaped, a tear slid down her face as she held it up in front of her face.

"I thought I'd left this behind." She whispered to herself, voice cracking with emotion.

'**Bastard.'** Her inner mumbled miserably. She took a few deep breaths to calm herself down. Once calm, she put the necklace on, hiding it under her shirt, closed the draw and left his room, slamming the door. She decided to wait in the kitchen for either Sasori to return or for Deidara to wake up. She entered the kitchen, and froze as she saw who was sitting in one of the chairs, her heart beating erratically.

"Hn. I was wondering when you would come, Sakura."

'_Shit shit shit shit SHIT! What the fuck do I do!' _She stared blankly at him.

"You shouldn't be here." She said emotionlessly. Sasuke ignored her.

"I've been waiting for a while."

'**That's not our fault you fucktard!'**

"I was asleep." Sasuke smirked.

"A true shinobi would have been able to sense an intruder, even in their sleep." Sakura's eye twitched.

'_Fucking asshole!' _"Screw you Sasuke!" She snarled. He raised an eyebrow at her reaction, not expecting it, but using it to taunt her further.

"Tut tut Sakura, a true shinobi doesn't allow their emotions to show either." Sakura wanted desperately to strangle him, but held back, fingering her necklace to calm down. It didn't work.

"Says the guy that looses control every time they face their brother." Sasuke's smirk disappeared as he glared at her. She expected him to kill her, so was surprised when he calmed down and faced away from her.

"I see you've become acquainted with criminals, how unlike you."

'_Screw it, let him kill me.'_

"I see you've failed to kill your Itachi. Looks like your plan to gain more power failed, can't say I'm surprised." Suddenly he was in front of her, hand around her neck and squeezing. Hard.

"Don't you dare mention that traitorous bastard's name to me!" He hissed, Sharingan blazing.

"Or what, are you going to kill me?" She mocked, though with difficulty, her eyes glancing down at his hand. Sasuke's hold loosened, but didn't let go.

"No. You could be… Useful." Sakura scoffed.

"Yeah, like I'd help you!" Sasuke leaned closer to her, lips hovering close to her ear.

"If you help me, I'll help you."

"Help me how?" His smirk returned.

"I'll get you back to Gaara." She froze in his grip as he finished speaking, staring at him in shock. How did he know? Could he really do that? Would he? But, she couldn't leave Deidara… Could she?

"How do I know I can trust what you say?" Sasuke seemed to ponder this for a moment. He sighed and let go of her, moving away.

"I'll give you a week to think about it." He said. He was about to leave, but Sakura stopped him.

"How would I be of use to you, if I was to help you?" She asked. He smirked at her.

"It would be useful to have a decent medic around while I kill my brother." Was all he said before he disappeared. Sakura stared at the place he had been moments before.

'**Funny how after everything Itachi has put him through, he still refers to him as his brother.'** She agreed with her inner, sprinting up the stairs to her room to wake Deidara. She burst through her door and proceeded to shake him.

"Deidara, wake the fuck up! I need your help!"

**Ooooh, CLIFFIE! What will Sakura do? Will she go with Sasuke, or will she stay with Sasori and wait for someone to rescue her?**

**I'm done! I'm sorry if it was too long, but it's here now! I hope you like it! Oh, and I think I'll leave it up to you on her decision, but I have scenarios planned out for either one, but it's nice to know what you would prefer : )**

**P.S I don't know how soon I'll be able to have the next chapter out, because as luck would have it, I'm ill D:**

**All my joints started swelling up so it's really hard to move let alone type. At one point I couldn't even walk! Really sorry for the inconvenience, and I really hope you like this chapter : )**


	17. Chapter 17

**Wow...it's been a while, hasn't it? Sorry for my absence, but the laptop I was using is FUCKING BROKEN! So now I have to resort to using my other one, but the up key is FUCKED UP, so I can't type properly, which is why it took so long.** **.. Please forgive me and I hope you enjoy -.-**

It had been the longest week of her life, during which she had made one of the most difficult choices of her life. As soon as she had been given this ultimatum, she had run straight to Deidara to seek his advice. He had stared darkly at her for ages and had refused to speak to her for a day. When he had finally calmed down, he snuck into her room while Sasori slept to talk with her.

"Sorry for being such an overly dramatic bitch, but I kept thinking that you would definitely choose to leave. He was your first love after all and he basically bribed you by saying that he would return you to Gaara!" He had whispered feverishly to her after hugging and snuggling under the covers. Sakura smiled understandingly and patted him on the shoulder to the best of her ability considering their positions, to which he was not amused.

"Don't apologize for it, though I do agree with the overly dramatic bitch part. I just want to know why he wants me to go with him, it would really help with the whole decision making part!" She sighed and had rolled over onto her back, facing the ceiling. Deidara propped himself onto his elbows to give her a serious look, which shocked her as he was hardly ever so.

"Regardless of what he wants you for, you know that you can't trust him at all, right? He betrayed your village, and knocked you out leaving you on a bench! Who's to say he won't do it again, only this time he might kill you!" Sakura flinched at the harshness of his tone. He saw this and relaxed, sighing softly.

"Sorry Sakura, I just don't want you to make the wrong decision and-" But he had cut himself off and lay down, facing away from her. Sakura's face scrunched up in distress and confusion. She pondered momentarily over what Deidara had been about to say, When it hit her fully.

'_He doesn't want to be stuck here alone.'_

Tears gathered in her eyes, and she had squeezed them shut to prevent the tears from escaping. She wrapped her arms around Deidara's middle, holding on to him tightly. For a while, he lay there still, but then squeezed her hand reassuringly. She had smiled, eyes still shut, and slowly drifted off to sleep.

They had relocated once more and Sakura's hopes had risen, thinking that Sasuke may have forgotten. However, as soon as Sasori had left to restock on food, the Uchiha had appeared, reminding her of what little time she had left to make this enormous decision. But, after much agonizing and talks with Deidara. She had made her choice. Now all she needed to do was find a way to get her possessive captor away long enough... Sighing, she made her way to the kitchen in the hopes that some ice cream might help her come up with something. She groaned miserably at the lack of the frozen product, but then smiled brightly.

"SASORI!" She shouted as loud as she could, schooling her features from a grin, into a saddened pout. Soon enough said red haired puppeteer appeared in the doorway.

"Yes, Sakura?" He asked politely, though she could see his eyes were slightly narrowed and his teeth were gritted in annoyance. She shot him an apologetic smile, before pointing at the freezer.

"There's no more ice cream in the freezer." Sasori's eyes narrowed further.

"You mean to tell me that you bellowed my name out that loudly, possibly giving away our position to any enemy ninja in the vicinity... just to tell me we are out of frozen goods?" He asked dangerously. Sakura suppressed a shudder as he glared icily at her.

"... Yes?" The former puppet let out a frustrated sigh, running a hand through his hair.

"Well to bad, because I'm not going to get anymore. You can wait until we reach our next destination." Sakura's eyes widened in alarm.

**"The fuck does he have to be so difficult! He's keeping us here against our will, it's the least he could do to get us some fucking ice cream!"** The pinkette's inner cried out, while her outer self averted her eyes to stop Sasori noticing.

"Please Sasori, I-" No, she couldn't go there. Her inner was practically begging her not to, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Turning to face away from him, she steeled herself and adopted a haughty tone whilst crossing her arms over her chest.

"Hey, Sasori. I wonder if you've ever had to deal with a girl on her period before." She watched in both satisfaction and pure embarrassment as he suddenly tensed. She took a deep, but quiet, breath and continued. "Because we're a nightmare to deal with, even in a good mood so I'm sure you can imagine what one would be like in a bad mood, without certain _treats_ to keep us calm." There was a tense silence between them, until she heard Sasori shift.

"... I'll be back in a few hours." And with that he left. She let out a relieved sigh, blushing furiously at what she had said. Her inner was promising her that she would never forgive her for pulling a stunt like that, but she argued that it was for a good cause. She went upstairs to let Deidara know that Sasori had left, and that she would come back up when she and Sasuke had finished talking. She then returned to the kitchen and sat down at the table, waiting for Sasuke to arrive. Luckily, she didn't have to wait long for him to appear. He stood silently in front of her, staring blankly and she returned the gesture. After what seemed like an eternity, he spoke.

"It's been a week. I trust you've made your choice?" He raised an eyebrow and smirked as Sakura nodded.

"Good, otherwise I would've decided for you." She cringed slightly at this. "So what is your decision?" She took a deep breath and faced him bravely.

"I've decided that I'm going to stay here."

... In Suna ...

"Why... is it so damn hot?" Naruto breathed out, lying on a chair in Gaara's office with his arms out stretched and hanging behind the sofa. Gaara simply raised an eyebrow at him and then resumed his work. Naruto glared at him for blatantly ignoring him. The team they had assembled would be leaving in half an hour, and as much as Gaara wished to just relax for once, there was a literal mountain of paperwork on his desk that he couldn't put off. Naruto, being the kind person he was, had offered to keep him company while he completed it... he was already starting to regret it.

"If you're hot, then go outside and wait with the others." He huffed out impatiently while signing a document on missions completed in the past month.

"What kind of a friend would I be if I left you here on your own, with that!" The annoying blonde cried, gesturing to the still high paperwork. Gaara growled quietly.

"Well, you're not doing any good here, by simply sitting there and moaning! If you want to be useful, go take this to the shinobi waiting outside the filing room so they can deal with them." He waved absently to a pile of papers. Naruto beamed and grabbed them eagerly, setting off... Half an hour later, he was back with the same pile in one hand, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly with the other.

"Uh, sorry but I got lost... Where is it again?"

This time, Gaara growled loud enough for Naruto to hear. Said blonde yelped and nearly dropped the stack of papers, causing Gaara to rush towards him. He snatched them from him and set them carefully on his desk.

"Be more careful, I've piled these in order of date!" He snapped waspishly. Naruto flinched but nodded his head solemnly.

"When I'm Hokage, I'm gonna hire someone else to do this shit for me!" He claimed, and Gaara had to refrain from rolling his eyes. Naruto then immediately brightened and headed for the door.

"Come on, the others are leaving now, so we should go see them off!" And with that he was gone, Gaara narrowed his eyes, having a sneaking suspicion that Naruto had gotten 'lost' just to pass the time. He sighed and not being bothered to walk, he used his sand to teleport him to the entrance of the village, where everyone except Naruto was waiting. When Naruto had finally arrived, everyone exchanged their goodbyes and while doing so, Temari and Kankuro had approached them. Kankuro put a reassuring hand on his shoulder while Temari hugged him tightly, but both let go quickly.

"Don't worry Gaara; we'll get her back for sure this time!" Gaara nodded and gave them a small smile of gratitude.

"Thank you." After that, the team set off. Naruto, looking depressed, mumbled something about getting Ramen and left, leaving Gaara Tsunade and Danzo at the entrance.

"I guess all we can do now is hope that they can complete the mission and stay alive." The Hokage stated after a few minutes of silence. Gaara nodded in agreement.

"They are all able shinobi that will apply themselves to the best of their ability while completing their mission." Danzo said, nodding his head slightly. Gaara nodded in agreement.

"Let's just hope they aren't faced with any difficult decisions." Gaara replied, indirectly mentioning the whole 'we might have to kill the person we're rescuing' problem. A dark shadow passed over Danzo's face.

"Sometimes we are forced to make difficult decisions, as is our position as the leaders of our villages." He muttered darkly. With that he left, leaving a confused Tsunade and Gaara behind. Tsunade chose that moment to voice what G`aara was thinking.

"What the hell was that supposed to mean!"

... With Sakura ...

'Well... that was easy...' After she had said that, Sasuke had looked momentarily surprised. However, for some reason, he accepted her choice, said goodbye, and left, though before leaving, he had sighed with what appeared like disappointment.

"You would've been a good addition to our team." He had uttered softly. Then he left. Sakura had stared in disbelief, expecting him to threaten her or something.

**'Well... that certainly makes everything much easier... Oh shit.'** Sakura was about to ask what her inner was 'oh shiting' at, when she froze as an unfortunately familiar chakra signature appeared. Right behind her.

"What was the Uchiha doing here, Sakura?" She flinched violently as Sasori's cold voice pierced her ears. She slowly turned round to face him. He was standing in the doorway, shoulders tense and eyes dark with fury. Deidara stood behind him, panting slightly and a horrified and concerned look on his face. She deduced that he was coming to warn her about Sasori's unexpected arrival, but obviously hadn't made it in time.

"Why are you here? You shouldn't have been back for another few hours." She asked, eyes cast downwards and voice quiet with fear. Sasori took slow steps towards her, arms crossed.

"In my haste to leave, I forgot the money that would be needed to buy you your ice cream. On my way back, I sensed him." Suddenly he was in front of her. He wrapped his fingers around her neck, choking the life from her, and slammed her into a wall. As she was choking, he sighed and ran his other hand through his hair.

"Oh Sakura, when will you learn. I've done my best to be kind to you, yet you continue to disobey me. I guess I'm just going to have to teach you a lesson." Sakura's eyes widened in horror at the normalcy of his tone, yet his eyes sparkled with cold fury and animosity. She tried to scream, but was cut off as his fingers tightened around her neck. She felt herself going light headed. Just as she was about to pass out, he released her and she fell to the ground, greedily gulping down air.

"W-what are you going to do?" She asked after regaining some of her composure, terrified of his answer. He bent down, taking one of her hands in his and pulled her up effortlessly, smiling sweetly. He leaned down until his lips were brushing her ear and whispered something. She paled instantly at his words.

"It's a surprise!"

He lifted her up and pushed her into the table. Using his chakra strings, he closed the kitchen door to stop Deidara from coming in, and then silently commanded Deidara to return to his room until he was finished. He moved towards Sakura and placed a hand on either side of her, effectively trapping her against the table. She let out a small squeak as he pressed himself against her, mind going into panic mode.

**'Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh shit, oh -'**

_'If you don't plan on saying anything useful, then shut the fuck up!'_ Her mind faltered as she felt Sasori's hand slide down her arm and rest on her hip and his mouth attack her neck. She let out a gasp and inner started again.

**'OH FUCK! Oh shit, oh –'**

_'INNER! WHAT THE FUCK DO WE DO!'_But her inner was beyond helping her, and she was forced back into reality as Sasori began unbuttoning her shirt. She raised her hands to fight him off, but didn't last long as next thing she knew, she was lying flat on the table, with Sasori straddling her. He had one hand holding both her wrists to her chest with one hand, the other continuing with the removal of her clothes. She opened her mouth to scream but was cut off as his lips crashed into hers with a bruising force. His tongue forced its way into her mouth, causing her to choke and tears to slide down her face. His lips left hers to lick her tears, tongue trailing up her face and towards her ear.

"Don't even think about it." He breathed, and she whimpered as his hand tightened around her wrists. His mouth then returned to her neck, stopping when they found the chain. He used his teeth to rip it from her neck and tossed it aside. He bit her harshly where the pendant lay previously, causing her to cry out in pain. His free hand reached up and grabbed her hair, yanking it so that she was facing him.

"You are mine!" He growled menacingly and Sakura choked back a sob as he slammed her head down onto the table and continued, his mouth ruthlessly biting her neck and sucking painfully, which was sure to leave giant marks later.

'**COME ON SAKURA, WE CAN'T LET HIM DO THIS TO US!' **Her inner screamed frantically, and Sakura began writhing underneath him in a desperate attempt to free herself. She stopped, however, when she heard him groan in pleasure, and lay completely still. She could feel him smirking. She bit back a gasp as she felt his hands sliding slowly up her thigh and under her skirt. She could feel-

**'DON'T THINK ABOUT IT!'** Her inner shrieked. Tears were running freely down her face now as she couldn't think of anything else to do.

_'Oh God, he's really going to do it!'_ She froze when she heard Sasori chuckle.

"I'm waiting for my apology, my dear." He whispered against her neck. Sakura jerked in surprise.

"Please st-stop! I'm s-sorry, I won't do anything wr-wrong again, just please stop!" She sobbed frantically. Sasori sighed and placed his mouth against her neck.

"But I don't feel like it." His voice was alight with malicious intent. Sakura's eyes widened and she arched her back trying desperately to throw him off, causing him to chuckle once more.

"STOP IT, PLEASE!" She was cut off as Sasori backhanded her. She stared at him in shock as he sat up; arms crossed haughtily with an irritated look on his face.

"God, you women always over react about these things! I wasn't really going to do it. Like I said, I just wanted to teach you a lesson." She stared at him, completely horrified. He sighed and got off her, walking towards the door. Half way there, he stopped to pick something up and Sakura started as she realised it was her necklace.

"M-may I have it back please?" She asked quietly. Sasori glared at the piece of jewellery in his hand, and then at her. Finally he closed his fist around it and put it in his pocket. Sakura felt despair rise up in her.

"If you belong to me, we can't have you walking around wearing gifts from other men... If you can call him a man. More like a monster." Sakura tried to glare at him, but found herself completely drained of energy.

**'Like you can talk, you bastard.'** Her inner mumbled bitterly. Sasori glanced at her ravaged appearance and smirked gleefully.

"I'll just leave you to your, ah, thoughts." He smirked at her again, turned and left. Sakura stood there and listened to his footsteps as he walked upstairs. Only when she heard the unmistakable slam of his bedroom door did she allow her legs to give out as she collapsed to the floor, hands covering her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. She didn't even hear Deidara enter the kitchen, nor did she process him wrapping his arms around her in a comforting gesture, mind too caught up in what had almost happened to her.

…

Sasuke had witnessed everything, and even though he had convinced himself that he had cut his bonds with her and the rest of Konoha, he was still disgusted by what he had seen. He felt anger flare up inside him, but repressed it, knowing that if Sasori was made aware of his presence, then he would probably start on Sakura again. He quickly made his way back to his team, who were waiting in a clearing nearby. Surprisingly, Suigetsu was the first to greet him. He figured Karin was probably still sulking.

"Hey Sasuke! I guess your little pink haired friend won't be joining us then." Sasuke shot him a dirty look, to which Suigetsu held up his hand in a placating gesture. Juugo stood up and approached him, the birds resting peacefully on his shoulders fleeing from Sasuke's dangerous aura.

"Where to now?" He asked softly. Sasuke looked blankly at him, and then began walking. The others, including Karin who had suddenly appeared in a good mood thanks to the absence of Sakura, followed hastily after him.

"We are going to find some Konoha Nin. Preferably the ones that are most likely out here somewhere searching for Sakura. Karin, I want you to keep and eye out for that red haired shinobi's chakra and alert me if he decides to relocate again." Karin nodded quickly, eager to please him. The other two shot him a confused look.

"Hey Sasuke, I thought we were searching for your brother? Suigetsu asked with the confused look still upon his face.

"He can wait. Sakura is in danger in more ways than one while in that house. I'm merely doing my duty as her former teammate to get her out of danger. Besides, she could be useful in the future." They seemed satisfied with his answer and dropped the topic as they picked up their pace.

'If I'm right, a team would have left from Suna and are probably heading towards the Land of Earth. We should be able to intercept them there.' Sasuke strategized as he moved even faster, hoping to be able to reach them in time.

**... That was a really awkward ending, and for that I am forever sorry. I really hope you enjoyed it though, and I am truly sorry I couldn't write anymore than that and I will TRY to make the next chapter longer and more detailed. That should happen anyways as I plan on making Sasuke find the team [SPOILER]!**

**P.S I had to type this bit by bit on Notepad, so there will most likely be LOAD AND LOADS of grammatical errors, which once again i am sorry for. Please review as I would love to hear how good/shit this fic is :)**

**P.P.S The increase in swearing is because i am an angry person and life in general is just becoming more and more stressful so I'm taking out in this fic, so if I can't control it, you should expect two swearwords in every sentence [SPEECHWISE], which is my basic speech pattern :P**

**Hope you enjoyed it :)**


	18. Chapter 18

**I am so freaking sorry for the delay, I am really trying but A-Levels suck dick so hard! I've always got fucking coursework whereas last year I had barely any. I am doing my best and I WILL finish this fic and try to update quicker:) Thank you to anyone who has reviewed and I say this now because I realise I haven't before and I am once again sorry!**

The air in the house had become awkward after the incident in the kitchen. Sakura had become withdrawn, especially around Sasori. Deidara had become frosty when addressing Sasori, but his feelings stopped him from being hateful. Sasori had tried to apologise a number of times, but he became frustrated when in Sakura's presence for too long so ended up leaving before he could properly apologise. It was alright though. Sakura figured she deserved it so she had already forgiven him. Surprisingly, Sakura hadn't cried since the incident. At first she had found this odd, but in the end was thankful at the lack of salty liquid as she didn't want to appear any weaker to Sasori than when she was in the kitchen with him. She was supposed to have killed him after all... or at least have played an active part. Regardless of what she had or hadn't done, she had helped to kill him, and it didn't exactly look good if all she did was cry when around him. She settled for a moderate amount of fear when in his presence.

**'Pfft, Whatever. You continue to think that, and I'll remain the sane one out of us.' **had been her inner's sullen reply. Sakura had giggled lightly at the irony; that the voice in her head was the sane one. Deidara had been growing worried with Sakura's strange mood swings. It hadn't been anything to drastic, but she had spent a lot of time in the solitude of her room. Sometimes she would be quiet, and sometimes she would laugh randomly to herself. Now, Deidara was no psychiatrist, but something told him that wasn't normal behaviour for a near rape victim... Or was it? Like he said, he wasn't a psychiatrist. He tried talking to Sakura, and for a while she would respond. Then without warning she would close up and he could see that she wouldn't speak. He just hoped that she wouldn't start blaming this on herself if she hadn't already. Anyone could see it was the Uchiha's fault, he'd already fucked her over once! It was like his presence brought her nothing but pain and suffering! But enough of that. He was tired so he decided to try again tomorrow.

Sakura herself was growing irritated at the constant frustration and awkward atmosphere between her and Sasori, so she decided to put a stop to it. Besides, might as well have a civilised relationship with her captor if she was stuck with him. She got up from her bed, and made her way to his room. Deidara had gone to sleep an hour ago, and she knew that Sasori wouldn't be planning on resting for another hour or two. He was working on restoring his puppet collection. She arrived outside his door, and knocked. It was silent for a moment, until she heard Sasori's voice softly answer.

"Enter." She took a deep breath and walked in.

Sasori was sitting at a desk on the opposite side of the fairly large room, with his back to her. As she had predicted, he was working on a puppet, and she noted sadly that he hadn't acknowledged her presence. Yet.

"Sakura, what are you doing? I'm busy and you should be asleep." His voice spoke patiently after a few moments of silence. Sakura didn't answer him, but chose to walk over to him and place her hand on top of his. This caused him to look up in shock, but quickly schooled his features into a blank expression and watched her cautiously. She sent him a soft smile. She wanted to be confident, but her courage had deserted her at the last minute.

"I'm sorry for deceiving you. I deserved any kind of punishment you had planned for me, and am grateful that you were lenient." Sasori eyes shone with guilt briefly, but when she looked closer, they were back to normal. She turned to leave, but was stopped by Sasori's hand clasped around her wrist. She shot him a questioning look, but he wasn't looking at her. Finally he sighed softly.

"You have nothing to be sorry for. I should have not lost my temper like that, especially when I had anticipated the Uchiha attempting to make contact." His voice was gruff and she found herself staring at him, at a loss of what to say. Next thing she knew, Sasori was standing in front of her with his hand had moved from her wrist to around her waist, eyes still carefully blank.

"I should be the one asking for forgiveness." He spoke softly. She raised her arms to hug him around the neck, not knowing what else to do.

"I've already forgiven you." She uttered quietly. Sasori smiled and led her over to the bed. He laid her on the bed, sitting beside her and stroking her hair. All the while, her eyes stayed on him, partly afraid he might try something.

"You should rest, you look tired. I'll continue with my work and then I'll sleep in your room." He explained, still smiling slightly. Sakura rolled on her side, still facing him, and grasped his hand.

"I don't mind if you sleep in here." She whispered. Sasori simply kissed her hand and returned to his work and it wasn't long until she had fallen into a peaceful sleep, now that a burden had been lifted from her shoulders. Sasori on the other hand, was gripping a wooden arm so hard it had begun to crack. The most annoying thing about being human was controlling emotions, which Sasori was finding quite hard at the moment.

"Damn it!" He cursed quietly, gritting his teeth and shoulders hunched from the effort of trying not to destroy something. After a while, he sighed in annoyance, left his desk and lay down next to Sakura. He began to toy with a strand of her hair, watching as she slept peacefully, and envying her. _'You don't deserve her.'_ A voice nagged in the back of his head, and he found himself agreeing as her asleep, faintly aware of how Sakura had shifted closer to him, but not hearing her mutter 'Gaara' longingly.

... With Sasuke's Team and the Rescue Team ...

Sasuke smirked. He was that much closer to finally killing his brother and as predicted, his path crossed with the Team of Konoha shinobi (and probably Suna shinobi) that were searching for Sakura. According to Karin, they should meet in a few minutes. No doubt they had sensed his chakra. Karin sidled over to him, glasses off and that irritating pout on her face once more.

"Hey Sasuke." She simpered and Sasuke twitched internally. "Why are you helping that pink haired girl? I thought you didn't care about Konoha shinobi?" Sasuke closed his eyes, before opening them and staring straight ahead, smirking.

"Konoha shinobi, are a bunch of emotional fools. You do one small thing for them, and they claim they owe you their life. I felt it would be beneficial for us in the future to 'help' them" Karin pouted, still not convinced.

"I think you should just leave her there!" She exclaimed haughtily. Sasuke turned to stare at her, causing the hair on the back of her neck to stand on end.

"You know what he almost did to her. Being a female, you should know what she must be feeling. How would you feel in her situation?" She opened her mouth to reply, but paled as the full realization of his words hit her. She swiftly got up and walked away. At that moment, the rescue team arrived. Sasuke and the others prepared themselves for a fight. Kakashi was in the lead, Kunai drawn and Sharingan swirling.

"What are you doing here Sasuke?" Kakashi growled. "Naruto isn't here! We don't want to fight, we're on a very important-" Sasuke waved a hand to dismiss his, a bored look on his face.

"You're looking for Sakura, I figured." He smirked as everyone tensed. "I ran into her and her, ah, _companions_ the other day, well one of them. One had red hair and the other had long blonde hair, am I correct? I was under the impression I had killed the blonde one but obviously not."

"Akasuna no Sasori and Deidara." Kakashi murmured automatically. Sasuke's smirk widened.

"Well, they're residing in a house to the east, about 10 miles from here." Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

"How can we trust you?" Sasuke shrugged indifferently.

"I'm not asking you to. It's a risk you have to decide whether you want to take it or not." He felt Karin tugging anxiously on his robe, and he half turned to look at her.

"What?" He asked, irritation lacing his calm voice. Karin winced, having picked it up.

"Sorry Sasuke, but they have begun to move again. They are heading north." Sasuke nodded and turned to the other team.

"Well you heard her, hurry up and catch up to them or you'll lose this chance, and I doubt another one will come up soon."

"Why would you help us?"

"She is alone with two men. I'm sure you can imagine what might be happening to her." He noted with satisfaction that Kakashi's eyes had widened in horror.

"If you don't mind then, we'll be taking our leave."_ 'And I have a certain Sharingan eyed weasel to destroy.' _And with that they disappeared. Kakashi and the others stayed completely still for a second, then Kakashi turned to them, uncharacteristically grim.

"We can't fully trust Sasuke, yet there are no indications that he is lying and for that reason we will split into two groups. My group will head east and Shikamaru's group will scout in the other directions within the same 10 mile radius. On my team will be Kiba and Akamaru, Kankuro and Hinata. On the Shika's team will be Ino and Temari. Stick together and I will send Pakkun to you if we find anything." He stated. By the time he was finished, the teams had assembled. Kakashi summoned his ninken and soon enough they had picked up Sakura's scent. He sent Pakkun to tell Gaara the news and they set off without another word.

... In Suna ...

Gaara was worried, though he refused to admit it. he himself couldn't understand why, there was just something wrong and he couldn't place it. Naruto was worried to but he hid it differently. Whereas Gaara just acted indifferent, Naruto acted even more hyperactive and stupid than usual. Unfortunately this just pissed Gaara off and they ended up nearly killing each other at the end of each day. To avoid trying to kill his first friend, he immersed himself in his work which resulted in him being too tired to even walk at the end of the day, let alone start childish fights. Naruto just pigged out in ramen. Currently with no work to do, Gaara was lounging on his couch while Naruto did what he did best; ate ramen.

"Hey Gaara? How long do you think it will be until they find Sakura?" Gaara's eyes narrowed at the question.

"Who knows Naruto? It could be months before they even catch wind of their whereabouts, let alone find a trail." Naruto sighed sadly at this, placing his unfinished ramen down on a nearby table.

"Yeah, I guess you're right. Still, imagine if they found something soon. That would be wonderful." He sighed, lying down and staring at the ceiling. Gaara snorted, not in the best of moods.

"That would be a miracle."

"I guess I came at the right time then." They both jumped at the new voice, though Gaara was more subtle than Naruto who stumbled and fell behind his chair. They turned to the voice to find Pakkun.

"Pakkun! What is it? Is anyone injured? Oh no, had someone died! What - "He was cut off as a tendril of sand wrapped around his mouth. Gaara nodded towards the summon.

"I apologize for the idiot. What news do you have?" Pakkun sniffed before proceeding.

"They found them." Gaara and Naruto stiffened eyes wide. They couldn't believe it. After no-one said anything, Pakkun continued.

"They were tipped off from an unlikely source. After summoning us, we picked up Sakura's trail along with two familiar scents, assumed to be her captors. They are close and the others are now pursuing them." Naruto whooped with joy, but something didn't sit right with Gaara.

"Who exactly was this 'unlikely source'?" He asked suspiciously. Naruto stopped, intrigued.

"The Uchiha Kid. Apparently he implied that Sakura wasn't being treated right and for some reason wanted to help out. We don't get it but we're happy he decided to. It makes the job easier." Naruto had gone still at the mention of his old teammate, but Gaara could worry about that later.

"Thank you for telling us. Tell Kakashi to alert me instantly if they need reinforcements." Pakkun nodded and disappeared in a puff of smoke. Gaara turned to Naruto, who had his head bowed.

"Sasuke helped them? Why would he do that, he said he'd cut off all his bonds. And what did he mean Sakura wasn't being treated right? Is she being tortured?" Naruto was agonizing over these questions. Gaara simply sighed, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

"Don't worry about it for now Naruto; just be glad he decided to help. We are this much closer to getting Sakura back." Naruto shoulders shook but then he slumped, sighing in defeat. Gaara gave him a small smile, but in the back of his mind, he too was worrying about what Pakkun meant when he said Sakura wasn't being treated right, desperately hoping it wasn't what he thought it was. "With nothing else to say, they went to rest.

… With Sakura …

Sakura woke up wrapped in Sasori's arms. Still half asleep, she smiled and snuggled into the warmth his body was providing her. Only when he had shifted closer to her, groaning out loud did she full wake up and jump out of the bed. Luckily he didn't wake up, but frowned at the sudden empty space beside him. She left the room and entered the kitchen to make some coffee, though sat on the counter and drank it, still weary of the table.

Soon enough Deidara entered, looking moody and bedraggled. He smiled when he saw her, standing next to her after making his own cup of coffee. They spoke about nothing important, what Deidara had dreamed about, what Sakura had dreamed about, how tired Deidara was, how it was going to suck having to tame his hair. Sakura giggled at his complaints, taking small sips of her coffee. After he had finished, he set of to fix his appearance and Sakura stayed in the kitchen, sipping her coffee and mulling over what had happened the previous night. Ten minutes after Deidara had left, Sasori entered looking impeccable. She had smiled and had said 'good morning' to which he had nodded before turning to her and speaking.

"Come on, we're leaving. We've stayed here for long enough and I don't want to risk the Uchiha paying us another visit." Sakura looked at him in surprise, but nodded and went to grab her stuff and alert Deidara.. In five minutes, they had their belongings and had set off. Sasori stayed ahead, leading the way while she and Deidara stayed behind, conversing quietly.

"Are you okay Sakura, You weren't in your room this morning." Deidara whispered, shooting her concerned looks. She sent him and apologetic smile in return.

"Sorry Deidara. I went to talk to Sasori last night. I figured that if he's going to keep me, things might as well be civilised between us otherwise we'll all suffer." Deidara nodded, accepting her explanation, though he glared at Sasori's back.

"That still doesn't excuse what he did." Sakura shrugged, thinking that it wouldn't serve her well to tell him that she had forgiven Sasori already.

They continued their journey in silence for a few hours, until they noticed they were being followed. The signatures were too faint to make out but they picked up their pace nonetheless. After a while, Deidara and Sakura started to guess who it might be.

"Maybe it's some Akatsuki member who found out you two are alive, and plans to kill you for deserting!" Sakura made up, smiling brightly. Deidara snorted and she could see Sasori shaking his head in exasperation.

"Yeah right, and pigs can fly." Deidara mocked.

"If it's made out of your clay it might be able to." She pointed out. Deidara laughed at this.

"Fair point, okay it's my turn. Maybe it's... the Uchiha." He smirked cruelly, saying the last bit loud enough for Sasori to hear. Said person tensed and the air grew uncomfortable. Sakura bit her lip.

"That wasn't clever, now you've upset him." She whispered worriedly. Deidara's smirk never left his face

"He deserves it. Now it's your turn. Who can you come up with?"

"Okay, um maybe it's - "A sudden chakra spike caused her to stiffen and pale dramatically.

Kakashi!" She whispered. Deidara gave her a strange look.

"Kakashi? Isn't that the name of your jounin sensei?" Sakura nodded, unsure of what do say. The next thing she knew, Sasori was beside her with his arms around her waist with a murderous look on his face.

"Deidara, I want you to cut them off, and make sure they don't catch up to us. When you're done catch up to us. You know where we are headed." His tone was dark, making Sakura shiver. Deidara stiffened as the jutsu took effect. Sakura panicked.

"WAIT! Please don't kill them." She sent a pleading look to Sasori, who sighed and relented.

"Fine, don't kill them. Only injure them enough so they can't follow. Now go." a puff of smoke later, Deidara was on top of one of his clay models and had set off in the direction of her pursuers. Sasori's grip around her waist tightened then suddenly she was being carried bridal style. She yelped in surprise and looked up at Sasori to question him.

"We'll travel faster this way." Was his short reply. She began to relax in his hold when he spoke again.

"In the event that Deidara fails and they catch up to us, you aren't to run to them, you are to aid me in fighting them and if you have to kill them, then you will." Sakura gasped in horror, tears pooling in the corners of her eyes.

"How could you make me do something like that? Why?" She asked brokenly, trying to get a grip on her emotions. She winced and bit back a gasp as Sasori's grip on her shoulder tightened and his aura turned dark and deadly.

"Because you are mine, Sakura and I am going to keep you." She paled and shivered, too shocked to say anything. She only hoped that the others didn't get harmed. Her Konoha friends or Deidara.

She was brought out her thoughts abruptly as Sasori's head descended and captured her lips with his in a dark and possessive kiss that terrified her. She clenched her eyes shut, wishing it to end, while Sasori coaxed her into responding. After a while, he pulled away from her, staring at her intensely.

"You will give in to me Sakura, and I will have _all_ of you." He whispered into her ear. She trembled in his unrelenting grip as he ran faster through the trees. Inner wasn't exactly helping with the situation, with her thoughts of **'Oh god we're fucked.'** Sakura closed her eyes and pleaded silently.

_"Oh God he's insane! Someone hurry up and get me. Please don't die and leave me alone with him!"_

**There you have it! Sorry if it seemed short but the next chapter should be longer. You're never gonna guess what. I'm fucking ill again D: That stupid lump problem came again but in my neck and I keep getting these killer headaches. God it sucks to be me... Anyways I really hope you enjoyed this! Please review as I want to know what you think!** **Sorry for any grammatical errors.**


	19. Chapter 19

**I sincerely apologise for the ridiculously long wait. I had intended to have this chapter up either before or for Christmas, but there was a fucking blackout and there was no internet for a while, which was frustrating because this chapter has been finished for weeks. Anyways, here is chapter 19, and the next chapter should be up within the next few days.**

Sasori had been running at top speed all day and Sakura was beginning to grow tired but unfortunately he wouldn't allow even a ten second break. She had begun hearing explosions two hours ago, immediately knowing it was Deidara and her friends. The explosions were frequent and caused the ground and trees beneath them to shake. Images of decapitated and burned bodies flashed through her mind, both of her comrades and of Deidara, and she found herself growing frantic. A number of times she had tried to run to their aid, but Sasori prevented her. For a while he carried her and when he was sure that she wasn't going to run off did he allow her to run 'freely' beside her. She only hoped no-one got seriously injured. She was pulled out of her worried musings as Sasori cursed loudly.

"What is it?" She queried anxiously, noting the murderous look on Sasori's face. He looked at her, and then motioned ahead of them, growling.

"There are three of your friends waiting for us. I had hoped we could avoid them but it looks like a fight will be inevitable." She winced at how he said friends, but turned her focus into the three chakras growing ever nearer. Her heart sank when she recognised them.

_'Oh God, Ino, Temari and Shikamaru! I can't fight them!'_

**'Looks like we're gonna have to.'** Inner mumbled bitterly and Sakura's fists shook with contained rage. Sasori noticed this and smirked cruelly.

"You can utilize that rage while fighting. End it as fast as you can." She sent him a scathing, but questioning, look.

"You're not going to fight with me?" He shook his head.

"I will fight, I'm just making sure you don't try to delay things and allow the others to catch up. Hopefully Deidara will be doing his job well." She turned away from him, staring fearfully ahead as, praying that they didn't brand her a traitor. They stopped on a branch and readied themselves for battle as her friends finally made their appearance.

"SAKURA!" Said pinkette's heart wrenched at her best friends cry. She opened her mouth to respond, but found it clamped shut against her will.

Now, now my dear. I realise you Konoha shinobi can be sentimental but I hardly think now is the time, don't you. Tell her to leave." Sakura felt her facial muscles contort into an expression she would never show to her friends. She saw Ino's eyes widen and her face pale as she mentally cursed Sasori for the words that were leaving her mouth.

"Leave, Ino. You and the others know this is pointless. If you continue it will become a suicide mission because I won't hesitate to kill all of you." Ino shook her head frantically.

"Sakura, it isn't you speaking! It's that damn seal he placed on you. You can fight it! She pointed heatedly at Sasori, who smirked in amusement, with a pleading look on her face.

**'I'm fucking trying Ino, but it's harder than it looks!' **Her inner shouted in frustration as Sakura's face changed to a cold smirk.

"Are you sure Ino?" Said girl faltered as she stared disbelievingly at her. Sakura grimly noted the others shared her expression as she unwillingly continued. "The seal controls my actions only. Remember in Suna, when I tried to kill the Kazekage and almost succeeded in killing Naruto. Remember how I cried for someone to stop me. A lot has changed since then, like my views. I left willingly, and I plan on staying with Sasori and Deidara." She sobbed internally as she felt herself walk to stand next to Sasori, seeing Ino's eyes glisten with unshed tears. Her face contorted with anguish as she cried out.

"You're lying. What about Naruto. Do you have any idea how this will destroy him. First Sasuke, and now you? Don't be selfish." A look of cool disinterest appeared on her face as she went on a mental rampage.

"Don't you think that if I really cared for Naruto, I would've stayed?" Ino's mouth dropped, and for the first time Temari spoke.

"And what of my brother, Sakura? Were your feelings for him a lie too?" She could hear Sasori's darkly amused laughter ring through her head as the next words formed in her head. Both she and inner begged him, but it was pointless as her mouth spread into a coy smile and her hands slipped into Sasori's red locks.

"He kind of reminded me of Sasori, what with the hair, so I thought I'd amuse myself." Temari's eyes narrowed into a hateful glare and Sakura felt her heart sink. 'They really believe it's me saying this!' The tears Ino had been holding back flowed freely down her cheeks as her shoulders shook with suppressed rage and sobs. Temari mirrored her, only her shoulders shook with hatred.

"HOW COULD YOU SAKURA!" Ino screamed, and Sakura hated herself as she smiled and winked at her best friend. She faintly noticed Sasori's arm slip around her waist as she focused on Shikamaru who had began to speak.

"Regardless of whether you want to stay with two criminals, it doesn't matter. You are first and foremost a kunoichi of Konoha and it is our duty and mission to bring you back. Come with us peacefully, or we will take you by force." Even in this situation, Shikamaru sounded incredibly bored, and while the girls were staring hatefully at her and Sasori, his gaze remained neutral, though slightly unfocused as though he was thinking. Sakura suddenly remembered his status as a genius, and felt a small amount of hope rise up in her.

**'Come on Shikamaru, you're ridiculously clever. Figure it out!'** Her inner screamed as her outer self shrugged disinterestedly.

"You're funeral." Suddenly she was airborne. Sasori had jumped backwards and she noticed Shikamaru's retreating shadow where they had been standing seconds before.

_'Sneaky bastard! OH SHIT'_ Her thoughts went from proud to frantic as she rushed forward to strike Temari, chakra gathered in her fists.

Fortunately, Temari had seen this coming and had leapt to one side as she tried to remove herself from Sakura's line of sight. Unfortunately, she did not see the kick that came as Sakura delivered a roundhouse kick. Sakura's foot connected harshly with Temari's side, breaking a few ribs and sending her careering into a tree, snapping the trunk. Sakura watched, internally horrified as her friend went through the tree and out of site as the tree itself had begun to collapse.

"TEMARI!" Came Ino's frantic shout as she moved to aid her fallen comrade, but was stopped by Shikamaru.

"Calm down Ino, we have to concentrate on stopping Sakura first. Worry about Temari afterwards." Ino looked hesitant but then nodded determinedly, glaring at Sakura. Shikamaru turned his narrowed eyes onto Sakura, a calculative glint in them as he assessed her. Sakura was desperately trying to send a message with her eyes.

'_Shikamaru, you're supposed to be the smartest out of all of us, you should realise something is wrong! For the love of all things sane, help me!'_

'**Yeah, and if you don't I'm going to fucking kill you!'** She realised that she was somehow besides Sasori. Trying to figure how the hell that had happened, she almost missed what he said next.

"Have we convinced you to leave us alone yet? I grow bored of your pathetic attempts to fight." Sasori yawned mockingly, causing Ino to grit her teeth. Sakura simply stood beside him, face a blank mask while on the inside she continued to seethe.

'**For Christ sake, someone fucking do something! Hurry up and set us free so we can kick some god damn ass!' **Sakura vehemently agreed with her inner as she was sent forward to attack with another chakra laden fist

…

"Ugh, this is _agony_!" Deidara moaned forlornly atop his clay bird as every now and again he chucked explosives down at the shinobi pursuing them. They were so concentrated on taking him down, they had failed to realise that he was leading them in the complete opposite direction of Sasori and Sakura. Deidara worried how Sakura would be dealing with everything, knowing that it was extremely likely that Sasori would use her like one of his favourite puppets. As he sent down another barrage of explosives, surrounding the shinobi and blocking them, he wished desperately that he could break free of Sasori's jutsu and just leave. He didn't really care where he went, he just wanted a break. Maybe he'd visit some hot springs…

_CRASH!_

He was jerked out of his musings as something collided with his sculpture, almost causing him to fall off. He leaned over to see the dog shinobi clinging to the side with a wild grin on his face while his faithful mutt/companion fell back towards the ground. Deidara frowned grumpily as he steered the bird in attempt to shake the kid off. After a few sharp turns and loop de loops, the kid was still hanging on and had even managed to climb up a little further. Taking advantage of the pause from his foe, Kiba jumped onto the top of the bird to face Deidara, but had faltered when he could see no-one, suddenly he felt gravity kick in and he looked over to see the ground fast approaching. He looked up to see another clay sculpture with the blonde artist upon it, chuckling at the look on his face.

"Ha, priceless." He muttered after a few moments of amusement before boredom settled in once more. He was pulled away from his thoughts as Kiba, angry at losing so easily, shouted up at him.

"Come and fight us on the ground, you fucking coward." Akamaru barked loudly in agreement with his companion. A look of annoyance came across Deidara's face as he scowled down at them.

"I was ordered not to engage in any physical contact." He shouted down. Well, it was true in a sense. Sasori had ordered him not to kill them, just injure and distract them. Plus, he didn't much feel like taking on the copy Nin, a Hyuuga, another puppet master and especially not dog boy and his mutt. He might get rabies or something. Kiba just smirked up at him.

"Oh yeah? Sounds like something a scaredy cat might say, and Akamaru and I hate cats!" Deidara growled in annoyance. What was wrong with felines? They are hygienic and graceful… and that wasn't the point, how dare he insinuate he was afraid. He steered his bird towards the ground and dove straight towards dog breath and his mutt, tiny bombs hidden up his sleeve. He feinted, turning the bird up to the sky again just as he came close enough to discreetly drop the bombs onto his adversary, who was too busy trying to elude what he believed to be an attack to notice them latch onto his jacket. He raised his fingers, a feral smirk on his face as he prepared to say his favourite words.

Hinata, who had her Byakugan activated, saw the little white dots on her teammate's jacket and the crazy blonde terrorist prepare to activate his jutsu. Panicking, she shouted frantically to Kiba.

"KIBA! Take your jacket off and throw it quickly!" Kiba paled as he struggled to tear his jacket off while Deidara's lips formed the words.

"Art… IS A BANG!"

A huge explosion filled the vicinity and those on the ground dove for cover from flying debris. Above them Deidara cackled insanely at his triumph. He realised that Sakura would be exceptionally pissed with him for blowing up her friend, but what could be say? His art made him excited and he got caught up in the moment. He wasn't an S-class criminal for nothing.

As the dust cleared, Hinata searched frantically for Kiba. She began to panic more when she realised she couldn't find him. As she turned her head, she saw movement in a bush and rushed towards it. She parted the foliage and gasped in horror as she came across the bloodied form of her friend, Akamaru standing protectively over his body and whining. Kiba groaned in pain, unconscious.

"I found Kiba, but he's hurt really bad!" She called back to the others. Kankuro growled in anger and turned towards Deidara, who was pouting.

"Damn it, I thought I'd killed him." He whined childishly. Kankuro snarled at him while Kakashi summoned some more dogs to help transport Kiba back to Suna where he could be treated.

"You sick bastard! What the hell is wrong with you! Come down and fight us properly instead of hiding up there in the clouds!" Deidara felt like stomping in frustration.

"Holy crap, will you stop calling me a coward! I'm just following orders, not that I have much of a choice." The last bit was to himself but Kankuro caught it.

"And what exactly are your orders?"

"Not to engage in physical contact I guess, I'm only supposed to injure you." He quoted immediately. Kankuro looked thoughtful for a minute, in the background Kakashi was explaining to his ninken where to go while Hinata wished Akamaru luck and a safe journey.

"So, you've injured all of us and one of us severely. Do you feel the urge to continue to try and injure the rest of us?" Deidara opened his mouth to answer, but cut himself off, a frown forming on his face. Now that he mentioned it, he didn't have that little voice telling him to fight anymore. It was completely silent. Sasori had said to injure them, but he didn't say that he had to stay there. In fact, he recalled Sasori saying that once he had injured them. Ah, but Sasori had said to make sure they can't follow.

"Sorry, I see where you're going with this, but I can't help you. Sasori said to make sure you can't follow me back to them." Kankuro simply gestured to their surroundings.

"Look at all the fallen trees and piles of rock and earth. Who's to say we can follow you with this in our way?" Deidara's eyes widened and a small smile began to form.

"Go on…"

"Let's just say – hypothetically of course - that our path has been blocked and we've been injured. That would mean that you could return to Sasori and Sakura. You want to be freed from Sasori's jutsu, don't you?" Deidara nodded, his smile growing wider.

"Of course I do. And let's also say – still hypothetically – that I return to Sasori and Sakura and distract Sasori long enough to keep him there for a while, it's not my fault you 'might' manage to catch up, I did follow my orders after all." Kankuro grinned at this new plan that had began to formulate.

"Hold on a second… What would be in it for me if I was to go along with this?" Deidara's eyes narrowed in suspicion. Kankuro merely shrugged.

"Oh I don't know… you might 'accidentally' slip through our fingers in the chaos of killing Sasori and saving Sakura. Our mission is only to retrieve Sakura, nothing else." Deidara's grin returned as he nodded his head emphatically.

"You my man have got yourself a deal!" At this point, Kakashi had returned and had heard everything they had said. He gripped Kankuro by his arm and faced him, eyes narrowed and Sharingan spinning dangerously.

"What the hell are you doing! Are you forgetting that he tortured you and helped take and keep Sakura? You can't make those sorts of deals with him; it's not your decision to make." Kankuro matched his glare with equal ferocity.

"He's under the same jutsu as Sakura and wants to be free of it. He's willing to do anything, even if it means working with the enemy. I'm only doing the best I can to complete and succeed with the mission." Kakashi sighed and released him.

"Sorry. Let's just hope that this plan works." He muttered as he watched the blonde criminal fly towards Sasori and his pink haired student.

…

'_Holy… Shit.'_ Was all Sakura could think as she gazed at their surroundings. There was literally nothing left. No trees, no shrubbery, no nothing. Just one colossal jagged and smoking crater. She was currently standing at the base, breathing heavily as she stared up at Ino and Temari, who were using chakra to stick to the walls of the fissure. Ino was still glaring hatefully at her while Temari was staring at her, every now and again wincing in pain as she clutched her side with one of her hands, no doubt trying to anticipate her next move. Shikamaru stood outside, in his trademark thinking pose while Sasori sat in a tree, yawning and looking on with a bored expression.

'_**These shinobi just don't quit do they?' **_Sakura heard Sasori's faintly amused voice in her head. He was saved having to answer as she jumped backwards to avoid a kunai directed at her. She stood straight close to the wall of the crater, smirking up at the two on the opposite wall.

"Is that all you've got pig? You're just as pathetic as when we were younger, you haven't progressed at all! You should just surrender and let me kill you; it would be the kind thing to do. You obviously won't last long in this life and others won't be as generous as I." Ino snarled and prepared to launch herself towards Sakura, but was held back by Temari, who shook her head quickly. Sakura's smirk widened while on the inside she was screaming and cursing Sasori. It was a low blow.

"The hard way then? Very well, have it your way." She moved to take a step forward, but found herself immobilised, unable to move even her head. Her eyes widened and she glanced down to see a protruding shadow that led all the way back to Shikamaru. Sasori was upright and tense now, scowling at this new development.

"Ah Sakura, you have a good memory. Do you remember how I won my fight in the preliminary rounds of our fist chuunin exam? The one against the sound kunoichi?" Sakura's eyes widened as she realised her surroundings. She was too close to the wall whereas Shikamaru was in an open space. All he had to do was bend back quickly and she would be knocked out. Shikamaru smirked as he saw the recognition in her eyes.

"Sorry Sakura, but this might hurt." And with that, he bent backwards in a fast motion. He heard a bang and then a thump, indicating that Sakura had hit her head and had been knocked out. He straightened and motioned to Temari to retrieve her body but before any of them could move, Sasori had shot towards Sakura and had picked her up. In an instant, he had a puppet out and a purple smoke was filling the area.

_Poison!_

"You two. Retreat now, and quickly!" He ordered, shooting back into the trees. Ino and Temari jumped out of the crater and landed next to Shikamaru in the trees. However, they were forced to move again as the cloud moved rapidly towards them.

"Whatever you guys do, if that cloud engulfs us, don't breathe. I remember what it did to Kankuro and I can tell you that you don't want to experience that!" Temari muttered as they sped away from the oncoming cloud. Ino growled in frustration.

"Damn it, we almost had her. When I get my hands on her, I'm gonna kill her. Screw bringing her back alive!" Temari nodded in agreement. They both looked at Shikamaru, who had made a noise of disbelief as he rolled his eyes.

"Troublesome women…" Ino punched him in the arm and he yelped, almost causing him to trip on a branch.

"The hell is that supposed to mean!" Ino shouted furiously. Shikamaru rubbed his arm, mumbling for a while before he decided to answer.

"You really think it was Sakura who said all that?" Ino looked shocked.

"Yes! We watched her say it to us."

"You think she meant it?"

"We saw it in her eyes!"

"You think she had a choice?"

Ino opened her mouth to argue again, but clamped her mouth shut. Temari's eyes widened as she realised what Shikamaru was saying.

"The fact that Sakura is being controlled by Sasori makes it safe to assume that he is communicating with her somehow. If he can control what she does, why not be able to control what she says as well? If you hadn't been so caught up in what she was saying, you would have noticed that in between her words, her expression would flicker. She's trapped inside her own mind, being forced to fight and taunt her friends and she can't do anything to stop it. All we can do now is kill Sasori so we can free her."

Ino looked horrified, tears forming in her eyes.

"Poor Sakura…" She mumbled, wiping ferociously at her eyes. The turned around to see the purple cloud had disappeared and began heading back, hell bent on rescuing their friend.

Meanwhile, Sasori was travelling towards Deidara, having ordered him to come and collect them. His hands were covered in Sakura's blood while the back of her head glowed green as she healed herself. After a while, her eyes fluttered open and she stared drowsily up at Sasori.

"How could you make me say those things to my friends?" She whispered brokenly. Sasori sighed in annoyance.

"It was necessary." She tried to glare at him but found she had no energy left. She remained in silence as she was carried through the trees. Finally, the figure of Deidara approached and lowered his bird towards them so Sasori could jump on. Once they were all on, they began to slowly rise up and away. Tears rolled down Sakura's face as she realised that after this, there was no way her friends would ever find them.

Suddenly, a kunai whizzed through the air and tore straight through the bird, tearing it in half. They fell from the bird and hit the ground, rolling in different directions. Sakura landed a good few feet away from Sasori, but was top drained to get up. Shadows appeared over her, and she looked up to see Hinata looming over her and Kankuro and Kakashi standing protectively in front of her. Sasori growled angrily as he stood up and got into a fighting position. Deidara was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey Hinata." Sakura whispered tiredly Hinata smile gently in return, and then faced the oncoming battle, Byakugan activated and ready for action.

"Hand her over." Sasori's was cold but you could hear the barely restrained fury behind it. Kakashi shook his head, kunai out in front of him.

"I don't think so. You won't lay another hand on her. Now, Akasuna no Sasori, you are wanted by the elders of the sand village. If you come willingly and quietly, your execution may be quick and painless… maybe." Sasori sneered at him as his body tensed.

"I don't think so copy cat nin. Sakura came to me willingly. Perhaps you should allow her to make the choice herself"

"It doesn't matter if she wishes to return with you or not, our orders are clear. Bringing you in would be an added bonus." Sasori shook his head in annoyance.

"I guess I'll just have to kill you then." He rushed towards Kakashi but stopped halfway, seemingly struggling with himself. Shikamaru, Ino and Temari had emerged from the trees, Shikamaru with his clans jutsu activated.

"NOW KAKASHI!" He shouted.

All that was heard was the sound of chirruping birds.

… With Gaara …

Gaara sighed as he completed his paperwork. He had never done something like it before but that morning he had actually prayed that the team that had been sent out would succeed with their mission and they would return with Sakura. He glared hatefully at the mounds of paperwork that awaited him. He had been neglecting his duty what with the distraction named Naruto being here, but now that he was gone Gaara was faced with the repercussions of his extended 'holiday'.

He sighed as he placed his pen down and turned away from his desk to look out the window. He was at a loss. With worrying over Sakura and his siblings, he couldn't concentrate in his work which could prove dangerous lest he accidentally signed a form that could send his country to war. He found himself repeatedly reading the same form over and over and the words would not make sense to him and he had take five breaks in the last hour. It was getting ridiculous. He was tempted to just destroy it but he knew he couldn't. I was important and he had duties to fulfil as the Kazekage and this was one of them, though he wished it wasn't. His thoughts drifted once more to Sakura and his siblings. Were they okay? Were they injured? Would they return safely? What if one of them died? Would Sakura be put on trial? Will she still want to marry him? He shook his head as he felt himself grow dizzy at the sudden barrage of questions his suddenly overactive mind had thrown at him. He continued to face the window, though his eyes were closed as he meditated to calm his nerves. Soon, the sun began to set and he turned to face his work, knowing that he would end up working well into the night and probably wouldn't sleep. He smiled slightly as he imagined how pissed Sakura would be at him, scolding him.

He had worked nonstop for hours, the imaginary angry Sakura being his motivation to work faster. He was three quarters finished with the paperwork, though he could no longer feel his hand or his rear. It was pitch black outside, past midnight and he had had to turn some lights on in order to be able to see. He stopped as he heard footsteps rapidly approach his office. Why would someone be running? Eventually, Matsuri burst into his office.

"Lord Gaara!" She shouted, bent over and panting. Now Gaara was definitely concerned. Matsuri could be bold sometimes, but she would never enter his office without knocking nor would she address him by his first name." He stood up and quickly approached her.

"What is it Matsuri?" He asked with a serious frown on his face as he urged her to speak. She gulped in air and looked up at him.

"A shinobi was brought in a few minutes ago, badly injured. Some ninken were with them when they were brought in and said they were sent by Kakashi so we determined that they was from the rescue team that was sent out. However they were covered in blood and we couldn't identify them. They aren't even breathing!" He grasped her by the arms, eyes wide.

"Is there any indication as to the identity?" He asked quietly, almost fearing the answer. Matsuri gulped.

"They were confirmed as male and had brown hair. It's either the Inuzuka or… Kankuro" She whispered. Gaara's face paled as his grip slackened. He straightened and walked towards the door beckoning Matsuri to follow him. Soon enough they were racing towards the hospital and Gaara found himself, for the second time that day, praying. Praying that whoever it was was alive, and that it wasn't his brother.

**One again, I am so so so so so so so so sorry for the long wait. On the brighter side (I think), only one more chapter to go!**


	20. Chapter 20

**HELLO! As I said in the previous chapter, this is the final chapter of Revenge. What I accidentally neglected to mention in the previous chapter is that there will be a time skip of 10 years… SURPRISE! Sorry about that, but I hope you enjoy!**

"!"

Sakura jerked from her dream to an extremely loud cry. She rubbed at her eyes as she jumped from the bed and quickly walked to the room next door. As she walked in she noticed window was open, which would explain why it was so cold! She quickly shut the window and turned to the cot in the corner of the room, where a small baby lay there, bawling its eyes out. Sakura smiled as she approached it.

"There there now Daichi, it was just the wind, see? Mama closed the window so you can be nice and warm again!" She picked up the baby and bounced him around for a while but he wouldn't cease his cries. She huffed out in irritation and walked out of the room and down the hall towards the kitchen downstairs to prepare a bottle for him. Halfway down the hall, a door opened, causing Sakura to jump slightly.

"Mama? Daichi is too loud. Make him shut up!" Came a sleepy but whining voice. Sakura chuckled at the appearance of her five year old daughter. She was rubbing at her eyes with a pissed look on her face. Sakura approached her, carefully shifting Daichi so she could hold him with one hand as she ruffled her hair.

"Ah, don't be mean to your baby brother, Karura. You were even noisier as a baby. You screamed like a crazy person!" Karura snickered, which gave way to a yawn. All the while, Daichi was still crying.

"How am I supposed to go back to sleep if he won't be quiet?" She resumed whining. Sakura sighed and held her daughters hand as she continued her journey to the kitchen.

"Come on, I'll let you have something to eat." Now Karura looked apprehensive.

"But Papa said that I shouldn't have any midnight snacks!" She whispered fiercely. Sakura rolled her eyes and looked out the window to see a steadily rising sun.

"Well, it's not midnight, so we could call it an 'early breakfast'…" Karura contemplated this.

"If I eat 'early breakfast', do I still get to eat normal breakfast too?" Sakura smiled as they made their way down the stairs.

"Of course sweetie."

When they entered the kitchen and Karura immediately sat down, waiting to be served. Sakura set to making some miso soup while Karura decided what she wanted. Eventually she decided on ramen, which caused Sakura to sigh unhappily as she thought of Naruto. Finally, both meals were ready and Sakura began to slowly feed Daichi while Karura slurped loudly, much to Sakura's irritation.

"Mama, where's Papa?" Karura asked with a mouth full of noodles, making the once clean table messy.

"Out." Sakura answered evasively, concentrating on not choking her son.

"Out where?"

"You know what your Papa does, so why ask silly questions. Go get dressed; your uncle will be here shortly." Karura huffed and stomped upstairs. Daichi giggled and threw the spoon Sakura had been feeding him from. She paused for a second, wondering how in the hell he had managed to snatch it from her without her even noticing. Eventually, she sighed, stood up and carried Daichi upstairs to change him. She couldn't be bothered to clean the kitchen. Besides, it could be cleaned later. As she was changing Daichi into a clean one piece, Karura entered the room dressed in a pair of shorts, a pair of ankle socks and a baggy short sleeved t-shirt. Sakura growled.

"Karura, what have I told you about wearing that damned shirt! You have plenty of clothes that fit you, why wear that?" Karura just smile innocently.

"I like it."

Sakura growled quietly as she once again picked Daichi up and walked downstairs into the living room. She placed the infant into a playpen she had set up in the warmest corner of the room and lifted up her oldest child, placing her in it as well.

"Watch your brother and be nice, I have to go get ready." Karura nodded obediently and set to keeping her brother occupied, as he was trying to pull himself the side walls of the playpen in an attempt to stand.

While Sakura was in her room getting ready, she took a look outside her window, where the sun had finally risen and she could see the village. She could even see the building where her husband was. Smiling lightly, she made a note to pay him a quick visit.

At this point, the sun had fully risen and she could hear civilians moving around nearby. Soon enough, there was a knock on the door. Karura's face lit up and she jumped out of the play pen, running as fast as she could to the door. She wrenched it open and propelled herself into the awaiting arms of her uncle.

"UNCLE KANKURO!"

Said person smiled as he lifted her onto his shoulders, entering the house. Daichi squealed in the corner, though Sakura was pretty sure it was a coincidence. He wasn't even five months old yet. Karura had already started yapping away about how Daichi wouldn't shut up. Sakura nodded and smiled at him, motioned to a note on the table and left. Kankuro read the note, trying to ignore the constant pulling at his hair.

_You know the drill. Their lunch is at 12, the food is in the top left hand cupboard. MAKE SURE you remember to change Daichi's nappy this time. If he gets another rash, I'll kill you. End of. Don't forget to put them for a nap and DON'T let Karura snack on ANYTHING!_

_Be back as soon as possible, and thanks again for babysitting._

_p.s Matsuri says she'll drop by sometime around 11. We found out the gender of the baby and she's been dying to tell you._

Kankuro smiled softly at the mention of his wife and unborn child. He focused on the child on top of his head and grinned at her.

"So Karura, what do you want to do today? Puppets or weapons?" Karura grinned back evilly.

"Weapons."

"Fine, but don't tell your mother. I still don't think I'm fully healed after she found out I lost you…"

…

Sakura didn't even bother knocking on the door. He knew it would be her; he would've been able to sense her. She walked straight over to his desk, sweeping his paperwork off as she made room for herself. Luckily for him, he only had a short stack left to do, but still.

He groaned softly and hung his head briefly. Sakura let a soft smile come over her face. He would never be so open around anyone else, except for her and their children. As he brought his head up, she schooled her expression into a stern scowl. She poked him hard in the chest, feeling slight satisfaction as he winced.

"You didn't come home last night."

He nodded in confirmation.

"It was supposed to be your turn to take care of Daichi if… when he woke up. ALL the times he woke up." He raised an (non-existent) eyebrow at this.

"Why do you think I didn't come home?" Sakura scowled at him. However, this soon faded to a sultry smile as she slid into his lap and wrapped her arms around her neck.

"I missed you last night." She purred softly. Gaara wrapped his arms around her and pulled her closer, positioning his lips at her ear.

"As much as I missed you, my love, I'm working so stop it." With that, he pushed her off. She pouted, but moved behind him, draping her arms over him.

"Come on! It's not like we haven't done it before!" In fact, if memory served her correctly, it was during a similar moment to this that Karura was conceived… and maybe Daichi.

"Besides, it only seven and I'm pretty sure no-one is allowed to disturb you until nine…" She trailed off suggestively. It was silent for a moment, and before Sakura could comprehend what was happening, she had been flipped over and was lying on the table, Gaara looming over her, smirking dangerously.

"You know Sakura; I do believe you are right…"

…

It had been ten years. Sakura sighed dreamily, licking her ice cream as she sat in the park. She balanced Daichi on her knee and watched as Karura played with her cousin, Chie. Beside her sat Temari and Shikamaru. When they had announced their engagement, everyone had been happy for them but, to be honest, no-one had been surprised. It had been decided long ago by Sakura, Ino, Ten Ten and even Hinata that the two had had chemistry since the first Chuunin exams. Sakura of course had married Gaara. It had been a long process as once she had been rescued, she had been returned to Konoha. They had to run all sorts of tests on her to make sure she wasn't suffering from any sort of stress or even Stockholm syndrome. Once she was cleared, they forced her to take a break from any sort of work.

It took ages for Sakura to be able to see Tsunade, but once she did, she immediately told her about Gaara and her. Tsunade had known of course, she just didn't want to let Sakura go yet. After a somewhat heated, but pointless, argument, Tsunade relented and within the week, Sakura was on her way to Suna. She brought Ino along. She had to. It was her fault, well sort of.

Kiba had died while being treated in Suna. She hadn't found out until they had returned a few days later. She felt horrible. She wasn't foolish enough to place all the blame on herself, but she did know that if she hadn't off left, then they wouldn't have sent anyone out and no-one would have gotten hurt. She also knew that if she hadn't of left with Sasori, Kiba wouldn't have been the only one to die. Akamaru was completely lost without Kiba. He had been returned to Konoha with the others but would simply sit and stare at the door as if Kiba were going to come back. Eventually, he recovered from his depression, but he wasn't as lively after. Tsunade had been the one to tell Ino, who had been dating him at the time, and after she had been told no-one saw her until Sakura requested her company on the trip to Suna. She looked absolutely awful, with red eyes, undone hair and a miserable look in her eye. Sakura had invited her not only to visit Kiba's grave, but also as a little holiday. One she _really _needed.

Once she had reached Suna, she had waited until dark to visit Gaara, where they sat and had a looooooong in which she had ensured that she would not do something so reckless and worry everyone again. After a week's break in Suna, Sakura and Ino, who looked considerably healthier and happier, returned to Konoha where Sakura could talk to Tsunade about marrying Gaara. Understandably, Tsunade was worried. What if something went wrong and messed up the treaty between Konoha and Suna? After another long chat, once again with Sakura ensuring another person, Tsunade agreed. She congratulated Sakura and set to denouncing her as a Konoha shinobi. Sakura messaged Gaara, arranging to have the wedding organised in Suna. The arrangements were done quickly, in about two months. Everyone was worried that something else would go wrong.

Thankfully, everything went to plan and Gaara and Sakura were married in June. She was given a Suna headband and the party continued to the next day where she had an extremely tearful goodbye with her friends. After at least 10 minutes of crying, hugging and repeatedly saying goodbye, they left and she began her life in Suna with Gaara. It was bliss. For a year.

Soon enough, Konoha was attacked (though it was resolved relatively quickly, thanks to Naruto), and a threat that went by the name of 'Madara' appeared and she found herself accompanying Gaara and Kankuro to the Kage Summit, while Temari stayed at home, having just found out she was pregnant (much to Gaara and Kankuro's displeasure.) Once there, Sakura was shocked to see Danzo there instead of Tsunade. She was curious, wondering if this was the reason Naruto hadn't contacted her for a while, but kept quiet and remained by Gaara's side, ready to fight.

Pretty soon, she was fighting and she honestly couldn't say she was surprised when she found herself fighting Sasuke. It didn't bother her though. While she still had feelings for him, he was the enemy, and he needed to be stopped. All was going well, until he snuck up behind her, pinned her to a wall and whispered into her ear.

"_Shouldn't you be thanking me instead of fighting me?"_

He was gone as soon as he said it, and she whirled around, catching Gaara's face. She'd never seen him look so panicked. She sent him a quick smile to let him know she was okay, and resumed fighting. She noticed that Danzo had disappeared, the coward.

When it was over and she had returned to Gaara, she asked him if he knew what Sasuke had meant. Gaara had sighed wearily and told Sakura of how he assisted the rescue team months prior. Sakura was completely baffled, but did not dwell on it… much.

Soon enough, they were at war. She was assigned to the medical division, obviously, and was glad to meet up with Shizune. She was kept busy for another year, occasionally being sent out to fight, until they received word of Naruto fighting, and everyone ran to his aid. She stood by and watched as Naruto defeated Madara and fought an insane Sasuke. Naruto had won, but was severely injured. She was by his side in seconds, healing as best as she could, refusing to let anyone near him, nor leave his side until he woke up. A week and a half later, he did wake, but he didn't seem to remember much. Sakura felt lost. She tried to help him remember but it was useless. She had nearly lost hope had it not been for Hinata, whose gentle and caring nature helped him on the road to recovery. Within a year, he had remembered most of his live, including his love for ramen. Also within the year, they had married. They now had a five year old son named Yasuo.

Sasuke, interestingly enough, remained alive. He, like Naruto, couldn't remember much only with him no-one attempted to amend this. Sakura had assigned herself to caring for both him and Naruto. Once when she visited him, he asked her why it was best he didn't remember anything. Sakura had gently told him that the old Sasuke had turned into a monster and that this was everyone's way of trying to help him start a new life. He had accepted this and within that year, to Sakura's astonishment, he had recovered, married a civilian and was on his way to becoming a father. He now had three children; a six year old daughter named Momo, and two boy. The oldest was four and was named Keiji and the youngest was only one and named Itachi. Many people panicked, thinking it would spark some kind of memory, but Sasuke continued as normal.

After Naruto had been married, she returned to Suna, desperately missing Gaara. When she arrived, she was greeted by Shikamaru and his one and a half year old daughter. He had escorted her home and left her there. He had obviously gone to Gaara's office as within five minutes, a swirl of sand appeared in front of her and she was scooped into someone's arms. She hugged Gaara back fiercely and they retreated to their room to rest and catch up. After a few months, they decided they wanted children and (very) soon, Sakura was pregnant with a baby girl, who Gaara was adamant they would call Karura. When Karura reached three and a half, they decided to give her a sibling, and so, around 10 or 11 months later (the first few being the attempts) Sakura had given birth to a boy whom she called Daichi. If Gaara got to name their daughter, then she would name their son.

She was brought back to reality when Karura began pulling on her leg to get her attention. She blinked at looked into her daughter's impatient eyes. Funnily enough, she hadn't inherited hers or Gaara's eyes. Instead, she had Temari's. She smiled at her daughter and ruffled her hair.

"Come along sweetie. The sun's starting to set and our Konoha friends are coming down to visit. Aunty Hinata is bringing Yasuo to play for a while." Karura smiled, but then tilted her head questioningly.

"But what about Uncle Naruto?"

"Uncle Naruto is the Hokage, like papa is the Kazekage. Unfortunately, he can't com whenever he can, just like papa has to stay behind sometimes when we go to Konoha." Karura nodded her head and ran to Kankuro, who was bent over with his head beside Matsuri's stomach, cooing at his unborn son. She walked over to him and handed him Daichi.

"Here, take Daichi and Karura back home, I have to go pick up Karura's present." She whispered. He nodded, and made a big show of distracting her children so she could sneak away. She walked for a while, until she found herself at what used to be the oasis where Gaara had proposed to her. She sat down beside the small pool, dipping her feet, and waiting.

Soon enough, someone approached, and she rushed to hug them.

"Nice to see you too, yeah." Sakura chuckled at his trademark 'yeah', realising it to be nervous habit. She pulled him to sit beside her and they sat and talked for a while. Unfortunately, they never could talk for long as someone would come looking for her. After Sakura checked his health, he handed her two small packages.

"The pink one is for your little girl, yeah. It's a bracelet that doubles as explosives, incase she gets into trouble. The blue gems are explosives and the green ones are smoke bombs. When she perfects her chakra control, all she has to do is direct some chakra into the gems and they become weapons."

"The green one is for your son. It's a small stuffed animal… It won't explode, yeah, he'll only be two." He rubbed the back of his head nervously, sighing sadly. Now that Sakura was paying closer attention, she noticed he looked extremely tired.

"I don't know if I'll be able to visit again after this. I have a job to do… and there's a low chance of survival, yeah." Sakura nodded her head, eyes clamped shut.

"Well, I'll still come here, on the days we decided, every month for at least six months. If you don't show, I'll know your dead… Take care of yourself." He drew her into a hug and she clutched him tightly, trying not to cry.

"I'll try to stay alive. See you… maybe." And with those words, he departed. Sakura wiped at her eyes, walking quickly in the direction of her home. When she arrived, Gaara was waiting in the living room for her. He got up as she walked in, a suspicious look on his face.

"Where were you? Kankuro said you left to get Karura's present… _Six hours ago_. It doesn't take that long, especially when you said you knew what you wanted." She sighed and flashed him the presents.

"I decided to get Daichi a little something as well. Then I got a bit sidetracked. I stopped off to chat to someone, and I must have lost track of the time. I'm sorry." Technically it wasn't lying, but it still hurt to avoid answering Gaara. He searched her eyes, then sighed and pulled her into a hug.

"I'm sorry. You look tired."

"I am."

"Then let's go to bed."

They walked up the stairs, Sakura still in Gaara's arms as he supported her. After he pointed out her tiredness, it suddenly hit her full force and she found it hard to stand. She got undressed quickly, pulled on a night dress and crawled into bed, waiting for Gaara. A while later, he lay next to her, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"I received a message from Naruto. He says he will be visiting in time for Karura's birthday." Sakura smiled dreamily, already half asleep.

"Karura will be pleased." She whispered sleepily. Gaara smirked and kissed her forehead, turning out the light.

"Good night."

**And it is the end. Sorry if it seemed too sketchy or rushed, and that it took so long! I've been extremely busy with college, but I'm on holiday so if I have time (I highly doubt that) I'll go over this chapter again and see if there are any mistakes.**

**Thank you to everyone who reviewed, favourite and alerted (…) Thank you for all your support and once again I'm sorry for how stupidly long it took to get this chapter out. Hopefully I can focus on 'How the Mighty have Fallen' and have that finished soon as well.**


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